Desperate Measures
by Kirameki Nella
Summary: 3 years ago, Allen Walker was simply the boyfriend of Lavi Bookman. He heard all about the band Lavi was in and wanted to join, but was declined because of a 'no relationships allowed' rule. Now, after their misunderstood breakup, Allen meets Lavi once again just as he's gotten over him. So what's he to do when Lavi offers for him to join the band he couldn't join before? Laven
1. Why

**I wrote this whenever our internet went out. The chapters I put up for this were already previously written so don't expect this story to be updated frequently. Besides that, I do not own DGM and I hope you forgive me for my angsty self. I swear it gets better after all the angst is over. It'll be kinda like a roller coaster, going up and down through the angst and happiness. Then again, a lot of people love angst (and they could probably be my best friend ^w^). So, I've decided to make a little game out of this! ^w^ Each title is based off of a song. If you can tell me who it's by, then you get a prize! :D Further details are on my profile so check that out. Each title will be a song title so you have _plenty _of chances to get it right/first. From here on out _none _of these songs will belong to me! There might even be some Japanese converted to English (most will be what the bands are singing so you really don't have to guess those ones...)so if you get _those _right...well then holy crap you must be a musical saint. And one more thing, I _really _don't know what the name of the band should be so it'd help out a lot if you gave me a few names for that too o^o;; So, without further adieu, I give you the first chapter (prologue) of Desperate Measures!**

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_What is it that he likes about me? _A twelve-year old boy with chin-length brown hair wondered as he walked with his middle school crush. His gray eyes would glance at the redheaded boy curiously at the thought of him. Allen had only just met Lavi maybe a month ago. Lavi was actually almost in his Sophomore year of high school, meaning his Freshman year was almost over. He was fifteen, three years older than Allen...didn't his friends think him weird to be hanging out with him? He was just a middle schooler...wouldn't Lavi rather date a _girl _that was in _his _grade? Allen only knew about Lavi's friends from the redhead's pictures he kept in his wallet.

You see, Lavi had his own band. He'd admit that it wasn't the best thing, but he reassured Allen that over the years, when they had more practice, they'd be one of the best bands out there. His green eyes seemed so full of life as he informed Allen of his friends. He explained about Lenalee, who was the drummer in his band. He only knew about Lenalee because she was a middle schooler too...except she was in eighth grade and Allen was only in seventh. She had long dark hair with what looked like a greenish tint and apparently played the drums. Not many girls did that, but he never doubted that she couldn't do it. Her violet purple eyes shone with determination that he'd never seen before.

The second member of Lavi's band...well, he always looked pissed off in pictures. _Maybe he's just camera...uh, violent? _Allen guessed. He didn't really look _shy _per-say_._..he looked more ticked. Allen just hoped he didn't always have that murderous look in his eyes. Despite Allen's thoughts, Lavi did tell him that he often tried to kill him sometimes, which made Allen question why he'd keep him in the band. Looking at the picture of the dark blue haired boy (who was in the same grade, Lavi would tell him), Allen saw that the teen played guitar. He found it a bit weird that Kanda, the guitar player, had for one, looked more feminine than Lavi, and for two, was one year older than him but in the same grade. Still, Allen didn't question Lavi's choices, he seemed happy about them.

It was really the only time Lavi's eyes seemed to brighten when he was around Allen. At first, he thought that Lavi played bass, but Lavi told him that he too played the same as Kanda, just different parts. He then pointed to a brunette boy that was _apparently _in the same grade as Allen. He had short brown hair and purple streaks under his eyes. Despite what Lavi told him, Allen had never seen the boy in his entire life. It was then that Lavi told him that he went to a different school and that his name was Daisya. Apparently _he _played bass. Right now they were looking for someone who could play keyboard. Now, Allen was _good _at playing the piano, but he never tried anything other than that. A nice objective came to his mind at that.

You see, Allen really did like Lavi a lot...he just didn't think that Lavi felt the same way. Usually, it seemed to Allen that Lavi just wanted to have fun and that was it. He never seemed interested in romance or any of that sort. Allen was usually nervous with Lavi; Lavi would, from time to time, try to hold hands with him or hug him, but Allen was too nervous to follow through with it. Really, it seemed that the only reason Lavi was dating him was because...he wanted to. The redhead figured that he had nothing to lose and that dating Allen might seem, who knows, fun? Lavi never really complimented him on anything. So, Allen decided that maybe if he learned how to _play _keyboard, Lavi would let him join. He had nothing to lose, right? Besides, Allen knew how to play piano already, and keyboard seemed like the exact same thing except with a lot of buttons.

That was the only reason Allen ever learned to play keyboard to begin with.

It took a _lot _more work than Allen would've thought, but Mana was with him the entire time to show him how. The buttons at first seemed way too complicated and it turned out that you could manipulate what the keyboard sounded like...for example, Allen could even make it sound like an acoustic guitar if he wanted it to, hell, he could make it sound like a_ tambourine. _He just had to switch it to the right channel...which there were over 400, mind you. While he was learning, he didn't really see Lavi as much as he would've wanted to. Lavi would explain to him over the phone that he was more busy trying to practice with his band. This only made Allen more determined to learn. He'd spend all his time in his room, trying to memorize the stations of his keyboard, anything to help out Lavi's band. He wished that Lavi would tell him the name of it...perhaps they didn't have a name...

"Hey, Lavi?" Allen mumbled, catching the redhead's attention. It had been a few months since Allen had started learning keyboard. He wasn't the best at it, he was only as good as he was at piano...but he really wanted to see what it would be like to play in a band... "If...um..." Allen trailed off, thinking about how to say it. He couldn't just tell Lavi that he learned keyboard to join—that would be embarrassing.

"What is it? Spit it out." Lavi said with a grin. It was usually _him _starting conversations. He felt a bit happy that Allen would start one. It showed him that perhaps Allen _did _like him. Sure, Allen would claim that he did like Lavi whilst blushing, but the way he acted told him otherwise.

"Well, I was wondering..." Allen fiddled with his gloves. He only ever wore them because Mana did. When he asked Mana about it, Mana would tell him that it was just a habit. When Allen had his own on, it reminded himself of how much Mana loved him. "...what would you think if...perhaps..." Lavi could tell that Allen was nervous about asking whatever he wanted to. Now that he thought about it...Allen only ever seemed interested in a conversation when it was about the band he was in.

"Is this about the band I'm in?" Lavi asked. Allen blushed, confirming Lavi's question. _How did he know? _Allen thought. Well, Lavi paid more attention to Allen than he let on. "If it's about you joining, then forget about it." Lavi said with a sigh. He didn't like the saddened look on Allen's face. "We all agreed before we came together that there would be no relationships with band members. Even if they thought you joining would be a good idea, rules are rules. No relationships allowed."

Lavi really felt a bit bad, seeing as he destroyed Allen's mood. He supposed that he'd ask Allen the same thing if the boy seemed so excited talking about them everyday. Right now, he supposed that after saying that, Allen had to choose the band over Lavi. This actually piqued his curiosity a bit. What would Allen choose if he had to? He never really hung out with Lavi, so it really wouldn't affect what friendship they had anyways. They barely ever spent time with each other, and Allen wouldn't even let him do things with him. Every time Lavi would try and ask him on a date, Allen would decline saying he was busy; could you imagine what the boy would say to meeting his parents?

It may come as a surprise, but Lavi had actually met Allen's father before. It was silly, but he met him at a grocery store. He only knew that he was Allen's father because the man had instructed him to run back over to the dairy section to grab a gallon of milk and Allen obliged with no questions asked. Seeing Allen run off, Lavi decided to see what his father was like. He did notice one thing: Mana, Allen's father, wore gloves as well. This made Lavi predict that _he _was the reason that Allen wore gloves all the time—not that it was really a bad thing.

He greeted him with a smile and at the mention of the boy, Mana's eyes lit up with excitement. Really, the man _never _stopped talking. He even told Lavi things that he never would have guessed. One, Allen didn't have a mother, two, Allen was _adopted, _three, apparently Allen had a _sarcastic _side. Lavi was _more _than just interested then. His eyes flashed mischievously when he had an idea. He cut Mana off politely (seeing as the man was more than just beyond polite while speaking to him) and asked him, what he thought was, a tricky question.

"So, what would you ever do if Allen, let's say, dated someone?" Lavi asked with a smile. Mana seemed taken aback by the question, as if he never even thought about it before.

"Him date someone? Well, I'd be happy of course." He chirped. Lavi hummed in thought. "I think it'd really be nice if he let someone in every once in awhile. For some reason, the boy has it in his mind that he isn't likeable...I wonder why that is..." Mana mumbled to himself. Lavi felt his heart twist hearing that. Did _he _do something to make Allen feel that way? Was that the reason that Allen never hugged him? Because he thought that it troubled him?

"What if it was a guy?" Lavi asked. Mana blinked a few times and shrugged.

"So what if it was? You know, the generation is changing and I really don't think it matters if someone loves someone else of the same gender. Besides, I think love should be more focused on ones soul and not ones genitals. That seems a bit silly, doesn't it?" Mana's words moved something inside of Lavi. He really never thought about it that way...he started to wonder if perhaps that's the way Allen saw it as well, which could only mean that Allen really _did _like him. It just made him feel all the more guilty for just playing around.

"I see...well, I better go, my parents are probably looking for me." Lavi said with an eye-roll. He was fifteen and didn't really need to be looked after anymore. With that, he said goodbye to his new acquaintance and ran off. He looked back to see Allen had returned with a huge blush whilst Mana had a sly smile on his face. The boy nearly dropped the jug when Mana teased him, poking his cheek. Lavi grinned when he saw Allen mumble something and put the milk jug in the shopping cart. He felt his own cheeks light up when Mana gazed at him. Lavi quickly turned his head back around and ran off.

Did Mana know?

Everything really seemed so innocent to the both of them back then. They both hung out a bit more after that. Allen did because Mana told him to and Lavi did because the words Mana had given him had moved him. Just as Mana had said before, Allen had begun to open up to him and Lavi even found himself laughing at some of the things Allen would say. He also remembered the day that Allen met his band mates. You'd think that he'd be able to get along with them because one, he was Lavi's boyfriend, and two, he himself wanted to join. But the day that Allen met everyone...

...was utter chaos.

It started off pretty well when he met Lenalee and Daisya. Lenalee teased him about Lavi, to which he blushed and mumbled something incoherent. Daisya just seemed interested in what kind of person Allen was, receiving a warning look from Lenalee, who knew _exactly _what he was thinking about. Everything was going all well until Kanda opened his mouth and spat out something really rude to the kid. Honestly, Lavi couldn't remember what it was that he said, and neither could Kanda, but whatever he said really made Allen angry. Lenalee could tell that he was trying not to fight back—really, it seemed like Allen was trying to get on their good side for some reason.

He mumbled something and Kanda then brought up the subject that he was adopted and Lavi definitely regretted telling Kanda about that. He even scolded his friend, telling him it wasn't something to joke about. He was interrupted when he heard sniffling and felt his heart rip apart when he realized that Allen was crying. Kanda was so surprised himself...truthfully, he only said things like those because it was just his personality. Usually when he threatened to kill Lavi, it was just a joke, he really wouldn't really kill his best friend. After that, Lenalee had to have her brother drive him back home because he wouldn't even look at anyone.

It was the first time Kanda felt bad about something.

He didn't really feel bad that he hurt the kid's feelings—hell, he barely knew the kid. He just felt bad because it would probably endanger Lavi's relationship with the boy. Lenalee was a bit upset with Lavi, who didn't really try to comfort Allen after Lenalee escorted him out of the room. Daisya too avoided him for a bit. Lenalee could remember the look of sadness on the man's face when he saw his son crying. The man, Mana, opened the door for Allen and he didn't even say goodbye to Lenalee and ran in the house. She knew not to snitch on her friend despite that she wanted to explain what happened. Mana seemed to understand and shoo'd her off to go hang out with her friends.

Feeling guilt, Lavi had skipped school on Monday, which was three day's later, to go find Allen at the middle school. Skipping school really wasn't something unusual for Lavi—he'd definitely never earn the 'Perfect Attendance' award at any graduations. He also knew the Principal of the school really well, so he definitely got a guest sticker for the day as he traveled around the school to find the short seventh grader. He did remember seeing Lenalee give him a scolding look until he used charades to explain why he was here. She smiled at him and left to her classes. Lavi had to wait until lunch to try and find him. Apparently Allen was quick when it came to his morning classes. He followed Lenalee around, listening to her ramble like he was supposed to be there in the first place, waiting to ask her where Allen was.

"...and then she was all like...wait...why are you here again?" Lenalee asked Lavi. Lavi thought that she was still rambling about the girl she'd been talking crap about for the past ten minutes. He realized that she was talking to him once they stopped.

"Oh! I thought you were...um, never mind. Do you know where Allen is?" He asked, looking around the cafeteria and even edging around to see if he was outside where some students ate outside in the courtyard. She frowned at Lavi and pointed in the direction of what he guessed was the library.

"He eats in the library. Allen aides in the library fifth period so he usually eats lunch in there too." She informed and waved him goodbye to sit down with a few of her friends. Lavi nodded and waved her goodbye as well, making his destination the school library. He wondered a bit why Allen ate in the library; usually there was no food or drink allowed in the library, and besides, he only aided when lunch was over, right? Didn't he have friends to eat with? For some reason, Lavi really didn't want to know the answer to that question.

He found his little middle schooler roaming the rows of books, looking for anything that was out of place. _Didn't Lenalee just say he's supposed to eat lunch? Lunch only started five minutes ago...he must eat fast..._Lavi was busy making his way over there until he saw a girl his age collide with him after not looking where she was going. In the process of bumping into him, she dropped all her books. Allen took it as his responsibility to bend down and help her pick them up. The boy smiled and apologized even though it was the girl's fault for running into him.

"S-sorry, I wasn't looking where I w-was going and...um...I...excuse me!" She blushed and ran off nervously with her book threatening to fall from the pile she had in her arms. Allen frowned in her direction with a puzzled expression. He shrugged and then resumed browsing the aisles. Lavi sighed and walked over towards him. Allen's eyes were narrowed, as if he didn't know whether or not this book was where it was supposed to belong. Lavi grinned and placed his hands over Allen's eyes. Allen jumped, nearly dropping the book.

"Guess who~?" Lavi sang. Allen paused as if he seriously didn't know who could possibly be doing that. Lavi could feel Allen's eyebrows narrow in confusion. "Awe, come on, how could you _not _know who it is?" Lavi whined.

"L-Lavi?" Allen guessed, a blush covering his face.

"Yep!" Lavi grinned but didn't remove his hands. Allen turned around quite clumsily, waiting for Lavi to remove his hands.

"Why are you covering my eyes? I can't see..." He mumbled, blinking his eyelashes against Lavi's hands to prove his point. Lavi laughed at the confused expression and he remembered the girl from before. _Doesn't he get it? _He wondered. It was then that Lavi realized that he could definitely take advantage of this situation. He smiled a bit and leaned down, pressing his lips against the younger's. Lavi could _feel _Allen's face heat up as the boy grew stiff. Lavi grinned wide and removed his hands and lips at the same time. His face was so red that he looked similar to a tomato. "Y-you just..." Allen sputtered, causing Lavi to grin even wider—even if it didn't look possible.

"Kissed you?" Lavi offered. Allen shuffled his feet.

"...y-yeah..." He mumbled, averting his gaze the floor, which really seemed more interesting at the moment. Lavi laughed and ruffled Allen's hair.

"Well, duh. So, I, um...came to apologize about Friday..." Lavi mumbled. He noticed Allen freeze up again and attempted to hug Allen in comfort but Allen stepped back.

"I...I'm sorry..." Allen mumbled and looked down so Lavi couldn't see his expression. His face was still a bit red from what happened before. "I d-didn't mean to...c-cry...I just..." Lavi frowned and sighed, looking out the windows of the school

"Nah, it's alright, really. I should be the one apologizing. It was something I shouldn't have told him, even if he is my best friend. That's just how he is, he didn't really mean any harm by it." Lavi said, his voice growing softer just in case anyone was listening. "To him, it was just a joke. He shouldn't have joked about that and I'm sorry about that..." Lavi mumbled, hoping that Allen could hear it.

"You're sorry...even if it was true...?" Allen asked softly. Lavi's eyes widened at that. Allen couldn't seriously think that he was put in adoption because he was a brat, did he?

"It's not true." Lavi stated, watching Allen relax a bit like he believed Lavi. _Has he really been thinking about it like that all this time? _

"If you say so..." Allen mumbled and turned around to the bookcase. "Why are you here, anyways? Don't you have school?" He asked quietly.

"Ha...about that...I kinda skipped...it's alright though, I mean, we were really only—"

"Lavi!" Allen scolded disapprovingly. Lavi blinked at Allen's sudden outburst as he spun around. "You shouldn't skip school! You might miss out on something important and then—"

"Allen...I skipped for you." Lavi said, not really realizing the most cheesiest words slipping out of his mouth. Both Allen and Lavi heated up in a blush and looked away from each other.

"O-oh...I..." Allen was speechless. It really didn't seem like Lavi would be one to skip for him...

...maybe the feelings were mutual after all?

One would probably think that the rest of the story would play out like a love story out of some cliche movie and the two would soon become so enveloped in their love over the years they'd get married...however, that isn't how the story goes. It only seemed natural that they would get along for years. But, it was just a few months until something drastic happened...or well, drastic for Allen. Allen was usually a careful boy, really. Everything that had happened had been by accident.

It had been only a few weeks since that incident and Christmas was just around the corner, happening that Sunday. Lenalee and Allen had both been in the kitchen washing dishes together. Lenalee would wash and then pass them to Allen, who would rinse. The reason _they _were doing dishes was because of Lavi's grandpa. He had told Lavi to go organize his room that was called a dump and Lavi tried to get by with the excuse of 'I have friends over!' but it didn't work out as well as he wanted it to. Instead, they were both given their own chores to do until Lavi finished cleaning his room. They could always stop since Bookman, Lavi's grandfather, had left the house; but, they didn't want him to come back and get in trouble for it.

They were both chattering idly and playing around from time to time with the sprayer, getting the floor soaked. Allen nearly slipped and Lenalee had to hold her hand out to make sure he didn't hit his head against the sink. "...we should probably clean this up..." She giggled and Allen nodded with a small smile. She was glad that they finally became close enough for him to smile at her. He would just so often start conversations with her and she'd feel like Lavi the first time Allen spoke to him without having to say anything.

"Yeah, I'll go get a towel." Allen nodded, nearly slipping as he left the kitchen. As they all came to learn, Allen was quite a clumsy person and always got himself stuck in some kind of trouble. She waited for about five minutes and he didn't return so she left to go see what was wrong.

"Allen?" She called, wondering where the boy could possibly be. _Maybe he doesn't know where to look? _Lenalee guessed and peeked around every corner. She ended up seeing him in the bathroom, trying to reach for a towel in the closet. She sweat dropped at how high Lavi placed the towels. He probably did that to make fun of his grandfather. Reaching too high caused the brunette to lose his balance and tumble backwards into the wall, which caused a small shockwave and shook the not-so-sturdy wood-frame above him that held a rather fragile-looking vase, which was now seen falling towards him. "Allen, look out!" She called and hurried over to push him out of the way. He fell to the floor and the vase crashed atop her head. She hissed in pain and fell on her knees.

"L-Lenalee?! O-oh my goodness, are you alright? I-I'm so sorry I w-wasn't...are you okay?" He asked worriedly and she gave him a grimacing smile.

"Y-yeah, it just hurts a little..." Unfortunately, the vase had shattered when it came into contact with her head and she had a gash through her head.

"Y-you're bleeding!" Allen said, becoming more and more scared by the second.

"Ah, I guess I am..." She mumbled, looking at her hand which was covered with blood. It wasn't so serious that she'd need stitches, but it was still a bit deep.

"What the _hell _did you do, short stack?" A harsh voice said from above them and they both looked up.

"I...b-but...it..." Allen stuttered. How could he possibly explain this? It was his fault that Lenalee was hurt, after all.

"Kanda, it was just an accident! Allen was trying to get something and he bumped into the wall and...it's my fault I got—" Lenalee tried explaining but Kanda had cut her off.

"Get the hell out of here." Kanda hissed at Allen. Allen felt his heart wrench with agony. He really wished that Kanda liked him a bit more...he supposed he understood that he cared deeply for Lenalee, even if he didn't show it. Lenalee was like a sister to him and Allen would hate it if the one he loved was hurt.

"B-but I—" _I'm only trying to help. _

"Get. Out." He growled as Allen pressed a wet rag to Lenalee's wound. She grimaced and held it to her head.

"Kanda, calm down! E-even Lavi would be calm at a time like this, you can't just freak out and tell Allen to leave! He's only trying to—" It seemed as if Kanda would have none of it.

"Lavi would do the exact same thing." He growled and the two of them stared at him confusingly. Lavi wasn't as harsh as Kanda was, and he tended to be more calm if something like this was going on. "Idiot, don't you know? He's only playing around with you." Kanda scowled. Allen and Lenalee both looked to Lavi, who had came rushing over to see what was going on. He froze when he heard the harsh words come out of Kanda's mouth...the truth was very harsh, but he didn't want Lenalee and Allen to know that. He only told Kanda and Daisya about it...

"Wh-what...?" Allen asked, his voice going an interval higher than it usually was.

"What do you not get?" Kanda asked with a growl. "Are you seriously so stupid to think that he liked you to begin with? The only reason you two dated was because he was _bored." _Kanda continued with the harsh words until tears came to Allen's eyes.

"Kanda, STOP!" Lenalee shouted, glaring at Lavi who was behind the rambling teen. Kanda instantly shut up and Lenalee dared to ask Lavi for the truth. "Lavi...is...is that really...?" She asked.

"Um...well, you see..." Lavi stumbled, looking from Lenalee to Allen with guilty eyes.

"You really...why...why would you do that, Lavi?!" Lenalee asked accusingly and looked over to Allen worriedly; however, Allen wasn't looking at her...he was staring the ground, his hair covering his eyes.

"But, Lenalee, you don't really get it! I mean, at first it was like that but—"

"Just shut up!" She snapped, seeing tears fall down Allen's cheeks. He stood up and slowly walked away, not even batting an eye at Lavi.

"Allen, wait—" Lavi made an attempt to stop the young boy, but Kanda stopped him.

"Idiot, she's hurt and it's _his _fault!" Kanda barked, gesturing to Lenalee. "Don't act like you care for him now, just like you said before, you've got nothing to lose if he goes, it's because of him that you almost _did _lose something precious!" That was the last straw. Allen knew he was a coward for running away when Lavi stared at him in disbelief, but he couldn't help it. He truly thought that he and Lavi were starting to become closer to each other. Lavi turned around and faced Lenalee, guilt rushing through him as he heard Allen's footsteps fade away. They both approached her; she wouldn't dare look at them.

"C-c'mon, Lenalee, we n-need to get you to the hospita—"

"YOU IDIOTS!" She roared and stood up, kicking them both in the face with a spinning kick. Kanda crashed into Lavi and Lavi slammed into a wall, his hand over his cheek with disbelief. She actually _kicked _him. "It wasn't Allen's fault!" She shouted through tears. "He only came here to get a towel to clean up a mess we made! However _someone _put the towels too high and he ended up falling over! Then that stupid, whatever the hell that thing is," she continued, gesturing to the wooden frame, "fell down and there was a vase on it. It was going to hit him so I just pushed him out of the way. It isn't even that deep, it's just a small cut!" She yelled angrily. "I can't be_lieve _you two!" She screamed. "Putting all the blame on him...how _could _you?!"

The entire room was silent.

"_Fuck." _Kanda cursed bluntly.

"You two are morons!" She snapped, pulling the rag away from her head to show that it was indeed just a little scratch. "You just broke his heart over one tiny little scratch. And _you." _Lenalee turned to Lavi with an insane glare...he _really _thought she was going to kill him. "How _could _you?!"

"Y-you don't get it, Lenalee! I didn't even finish! I said that that was how it was _at first! _I...now, I really do..." He trailed off, just now realizing how much damage was done. He could never forgive himself for looking at Allen like that. Ever since Mana had explained to him that Allen was often yelled at, blamed and beaten for things he didn't do, it was obvious that Allen would blame himself for everything and take everyone's words seriously.

Lavi might never see him again.

"God _dammit." _He glowered and rubbed his face in stress.

"Does he have a phone?" Lenalee asked quickly and Lavi shook his head. "The only way I'd be able to see him is if I skipped school on Monday...and that's the first day back from break. I don't even know where he lives, I only ever talk to him and his father at the grocery store." Lavi explained, his heart being drenched with fear.

"W-we'll just have to wait and hope he doesn't move last second. I doubt that's possible anyways." She said, trying to relieve Lavi from his fears. He calmed down slightly and sat down in defeat. Kanda started grumbling just as he always did about Lenalee kicking him and leaving a bruise later.

They didn't realize that their friendship with him could be lost in a single second.

The next two days passed quickly, even Christmas day seemed to go by quickly. Lavi knew that he'd probably get a detention after school for not showing up on the first day back, but he just _had _to see Allen and apologize. He showed up at their lunch and headed straight for the library. His stomach churned when he couldn't find the boy anywhere. The librarian saw his confusion and headed over. "Are you Mr. Lavi?" He asked politely, a tone that Lavi would learn to hate in his life. Lavi blinked in surprise. "Hm...the boy that aided here asked me to give something to you..." He mumbled and gestured for Lavi to come over, the teen could practically hear his heart hammering in his chest.

"He isn't here?" Lavi asked as the man rummaged through some boxes that looked slightly burnt. The man shook his head.

"No, I wouldn't be here either. Guess you don't read the newspaper—not that a lot of people do nowadays..." He mumbled the last part to himself quite bitterly.

"What about the newspaper?" Lavi asked and the man gave him a newspaper and Lavi narrowed his eyes at the circled article at the bottom.

"Well, Christmas morning, it seemed that his house burned down...it was quite disastrous. As you see there at the bottom, he was rushed to the hospital for severe burns." Lavi was scanning through the article so quickly he missed a lot of important details. "He's going to live of course." The man added. "I guess it really doesn't matter that much considering he isn't coming back. You should have seen him when he walked in here this morning." The man mumbled, shuddering at the thought before shoving a bag in Lavi's hands. "He looked devastated and he had a cast and everything. I can tell you that he looked a lot different than before...anyways, he said he thought you or a Ms. Lenalee would come and gave that to me. Told me that if you were here to just give that to you and if that Lenalee girl came here to just give her the bag." He grumbled and shoo'd him away. "Now scat, I don't need you bugging my students anymore and give that back!" The old man snatched the newspaper away and pushed him out the door.

"Jeez, talk about bitter..." Lavi grumbled resentfully. _But what did he mean that he wasn't coming back? _The thought of that made Lavi's heart sink to his stomach. He looked around before walking out of the middle school with the bag in his hand. He wanted to wait until he got home to open it since it seemed like it'd be private...however, Lavi's curiosity got the better of him. He looked around before sitting on the cement steps leading to the entrance of the school. He picked the note up and frowned at it before starting to read it. The note was very disorganized, unlike Allen's usual handwriting. Either his hand was injured while he was writing this or he needed to hurry..._or he could be trembling..._Lavi didn't like that thought so he decided on the latter choices.

_**Dear Lavi,**_

_**I guess the first thing I'd like to say is sorry...I guess I should've told you earlier that I was leaving, but I guess you really don't care anyways, in fact, I'd be a bit surprised if you even bothered reading this...don't really know why I'm writing in the first place. Anyways, I wouldn't recommend trying to find me anywhere since I'm leaving. And no, it's not you're fault though I doubt you'd blame yourself. You see, a week ago I got accepted into a program that was going to give me a chance to study abroad in Britain after they learned that's where I was born...**_

_**You probably don't need to know the details anyways, but just on Christmas day our house burned down. Not that you're really worried, but I did receive a pretty nasty injury. I guess that really isn't the point of this now. You probably think of me a coward for running when I did but I really thought...**_

As if someone had spilled something on the note, there was a small drop of water. Lavi didn't want to think that Allen was crying while he was writing this so he just left it at that. He read on...

**...**_**you at least liked me. I know that I'm probably not the most likeable person in the world, but I really thought that we had come to know each other...guess I thought wrong...**_

_No._

_**I guess I'll end this soon since the doctor's are discharging me...I'll be on a plane tomorrow around eleven so it really is pointless if you (or moreover Lenalee) come try to find me. **_

_No._

_**It's a really pathetic way to say goodbye...**_

_No. _

_**And I probably don't even matter to you anymore...**_

_No. _

_**Anyways, in the bag I left something for you. It is just a bit damaged by the fire, but there's no real damage to it and there aren't any evident burn marks. I guess you can say it reminded me of you...as cheesy as that sounds. **_

Lavi quickly dug into the bag and pulled out a rather long and bright orange scarf. The tips of it were cut off a little, which Lavi guessed Allen had snipped the black pieces off with some shears or something. Still, it made him tear up a bit that Allen would still give him something even after what happened and Lavi felt ashamed. He felt destroyed. Allen really cared for him.

_**Not sure if you'll like it, but I think it matches you. It's really bright and reminded me of the way that you live—without regrets. I don't want to you to dwell on my leaving even though you probably won't to begin with. You always seem to be in a cheerful mood, bright enough to light a room up (wow that sounded corny like something that came out of poem or something). **_

Lavi hadn't even realized that he was crying until a teardrop landed on the sheet, making it's way down the wrinkled paper. He wiped his eyes and cursed himself for crying. He couldn't believe himself. They only dated for a few months, why was he crying? Still, it felt like someone was ripping his heart out and squeezing it between their fingers whilst stabbing a knife through it.

_**You don't really have to keep it if you don't want to, I guess I kinda understand if you don't want to.**_

_**I guess all I have to say now is good luck and I hope you'll be able to move on through this without worry. **_

_No..._

_**Thank you for all that you've done for me.**_

_Stop it..._

_**You really cheered me up and I didn't even think that I'd ever be able to have a friend like you.**_

_Cut it out..._

_**I hope you go far in life as I plan to. **_

_Stop. _

_**I may not be able to move on so easily, but I'll be able to get through this eventually I guess...**_

_Don't stop writing, please..._

_**My father taught me to never stop walking, don't stop moving forward; no matter what happens, never stop. **_

_Please..._

_**I'll return to town someday, but you'll probably be over me by then...heck I wouldn't be surprised if you've been over me. Again, thank you for helping me cope with what life I had so far. Good luck out there, I hear high school is tough, but I know that you can get through it, you're Lavi Bookman after all! So, I guess this is goodbye. **_

_**Thanks for everything,**_

_**Allen Walker.**_

_Don't go._

* * *

**I seriously almost cried after writing that last part ;A; next chapter is a time skip! Thanks for reading. Criticism is welcome as long as you tell me what's wrong (and yes the chapter was meant to be chopped up if that's what you're thinking. This is really just a prologue leading up to what's going to happen next! Remember to try and guess the song title!**


	2. I'm Coming Home

**Yay for the second chapter! This has a bit of humor in it if you're sensitive to that, but really, it can be seen as something regular going on in the life of Cross and Allen xD**

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It had been three years since that had happened. That day, Lavi had definitely changed. No matter what downfalls took him, he would always keep a smile on his face—for Allen's sake. So far, Allen had never come back from studying abroad, but then again, people usually stay abroad until their high school years were over. Lavi had been hoping for those years for Allen to come back. Every night he would think about him before he went to sleep, hoping that he would really come back soon. Two years passed and he guessed that Allen really wasn't coming back. Surprisingly enough, Lenalee was the one who got him back into his womanizing tactics.

"So, Lavi, what are we practicing this time?" Lenalee asked as she cheerfully handed him a can of Pepsi and throwing them to the others as well. Multiple clicks and fizzes could be heard throughout the room as everyone opened their cans and drank from them greedily. They had been practicing songs for probably about three hours now and everyone had grown tired.

"I think we're done for today." Lavi said and received several sighs of relief. "Hey, don't give me that, we have a competition Friday!" He said with a pout.

"Lavi, this is ridiculous, we don't even have a _name _for ourselves." Lavi tapped his chin, thinking about it before shrugging.

"We'll figure it out when we get there." He replied with a reckless grin.

"You know, you should really be planning all of this out beforehand...maybe if you did that, you wouldn't have to see with only one eye." Kanda spat at him. Lavi and the others frowned at him. The Senior simply smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what now?" Daisya asked curiously. "It's getting a bit late and I really don't want to leave tired." He said reasonably.

"I agree with Daisya." Lenalee chirped with a grin as she looked around at Lavi's dirty garage. "Maybe we should clean up around here...ya know, make room?" She suggested.

"Wouldn't that just tire us out even _more?" _Kanda asked with a scowl.

"I agree with Yuu." Lavi said, raising his hand.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda snapped.

"Hey, you never know, I could be talking to Lenalee!" Lavi defended even though he said 'could be'.

"Just get out of here, already!" Lavi's neighbor roared and they all sighed simultaneously. Lavi was a bit unlucky to live in a duplex and have this man as his neighbor.

"Maybe you should convince your old man to move." Daisya muttered. They were sometimes yelled at when playing a new song because Cross, their neighbor, hated it.

"Yeah, yeah, don't have to tell me!...stupid, womanizing, bossy..."

_That _was a new voice.

"What was that?!" They heard Cross growl.

"Nothing!" The young voice of a boy chirped. "Damned man..." He grumbled, kicking a rock. They only knew that because they could hear the rock hit a car (most likely Cross') outside.

"Did you just throw a rock at me?!" Cross barked.

"I _kicked _a rock at you." The voice replied back smartly. Kanda, Lavi, and Daisya snorted. Lenalee tried to place where she heard that voice from. "HEY! I was _just _kidding!" He shouted and a loud reverberating smack sounded against the door. Lavi glowered.

"Did he just throw a rock at my door?" He asked rhetorically.

"Probably throwing it at that boy." Lenalee guessed.

"Oh shut up, I don't want to deal with you! Why couldn't you ask that dumb uncle of yours to pick you up from the airport!?" Cross asked.

"Because I don't talk to him a lot. Besides, you were signed over as my guardian so you have to deal with—ow! Quit trying to stone me!" He spouted, gaining a few chuckles from the room.

"It's called throwing rocks, kid, get it right. No one calls it 'stoned' anymore. Stoned is when you—"

"I _know _what stoned means." The boy growled.

"Yeah right, throw a rock at me again and I'll murder you." The red-haired man threatened.

"For the second time now, I _kicked _a rock...and it wasn't even towards you! Besides if you kill me then who will pay your bills?" Lavi wished that he heard a tone of joking in that boy's voice. He only sounded fifteen...

"Are you going to leave yet?" Cross growled.

"You know, this is basically illegal." He said.

"What's illegal?" Cross asked and everyone in the garage deadpanned.

"Oh, I dunno, just fifteen and driving a car without a permit or adult with me and then going to some bar to buy alcohol when I'm a minor? Nah, doesn't sound illegal at all!" He chimed sarcastically.

"If it's so _illegal _then why are you being so _loud _about it?" Cross countered.

"Well maybe if someone hears they'll call children services on you and get you arrest—ow! I was _kidding!" _They all winced, knowing that the boy probably had a rock thrown at him again. "We both know you're a better guardian than my uncle could ever be..." He grumbled and got into the driver's seat of Cross' car and starting it up.

"If there is one scratch on my car—"

"—then I'm a dead man, yes, I know." He finished for him and they could hear a car's wheels drive off on gravel and fade away.

"...what the _fuck _just happened?" Kanda asked, not really wanting to know.

"Sounds like some kid just drove illegally to a bar to illegally buy beer. Seems normal enough." Daisya said. He was fifteen too and he knew that sometimes Kanda made him do things that weren't so legal.

Illegal was Lavi's middle name.

"This kid sounds amazing! I didn't know Cross had a son...?" Lavi trailed off, looking at his band mates expectantly. Lenalee shrugged, Daisya held up his hands, and Kanda didn't say anything.

"You've got me, I have no clue." Daisya admitted. They all waited in silence, unable to figure out what to do about the conversation they just heard. By the rulebook, it probably seemed reasonable to actually go _call _children services. Then again, if they remembered from before, the boy said that his uncle would probably be a worse guardian. In Kanda's point of view, this kid didn't even matter to them. If they didn't overhear that conversation, they wouldn't be sitting in this stupid awkward silence right now. About a few minutes later, the car returned.

"Let's get a look at him!" Lavi said excitedly and ran over to the garage door. He just barely lifted up the door to see the boy emerging from the backseat where he was retrieving a few cardboard bags. "Whoa...he looks like a total rebel." Lavi muttered as they all peaked under the garage door(except for Kanda, who didn't want to be seen in such an idiotic position).

He had short, layered, white hair, the longest layer reaching his chin, and light gray eyes. The eye color reminded Lavi so much of Allen, but he tried to clear the image of the boy from his mind. He had a red tattoo starting from the left side of his forehead in an upside down star and finishing down the bottom of his cheek. He was dressed quite nicely for someone who looked so rebellious. The gloves on his hands also reminded Lavi of Allen, but he guessed that he was wearing them because he just got back from somewhere important. What caught their attention the most was when he started humming melodically as he carried the bags passed them.

"Hm..." Lavi hummed with a small smile on his face.

"I don't like that look..." Kanda muttered hatefully. "Whenever you have that look you have an idea and I don't like your stupid ideas." He growled.

"But this idea isn't stupid!" Lavi declared. "It's genius!" He continued. "I think we should have whoever that kid is the singer of our band!" They all stared at him in shock as his fist was left over his puffed out chest.

"See, you _are _stupid! We don't even _know _that kid." Kanda muttered.

"For once, I agree with Kanda here. We _don't _know that kid. Besides, you and Lenalee are decent singers by yourself." He reasoned.

"Yes, my voice is fan_tastic, _but we don't have an _actual _singer." Lavi said thoughtfully. The others considered this for awhile.

"Couldn't you just have Kanda play guitar and you sing?" Daisya asked curiously.

"B-but, I love my guitar!" Lavi whined, hugging his black and white guitar closely to his chest.

"Well, you can't just invite everyone that you think is a good singer, Lavi. For now, I think we should consider trying to find someone who can play keyboard. Do you even know how many sounds are available on some of them?" Lenalee asked rhetorically.

"Then let's find someone who's good at singing _and _playing keyboard! That's killing two birds with one stone!" Lavi said with a huge smile. Lenalee face palmed. It was like Lavi didn't even _hear _what she and the others had been trying to tell him.

They had no need for a singer!

"Whatever you say, Lavi..." She sighed, giving up on trying to get it through his head.

"LAVI!" A shout came from outside and every single one of them froze up. Lavi's grandfather could seriously be scary from time to time. Lavi swallowed nervously and pulled the handle of the garage up to reveal them all sitting on the floor of the garage. He stared at them blankly before shaking his head. "What is with this _dent _in the door?" Bookman asked accusingly. _Why does Cross have to have such horrible aim? _Lavi thought dreadfully as the man gave him a admonishing look.

"Well, you see, earlier there was this boy and—" Lavi tried taking the long explanation out but Bookman would have none of it. He just worked for fifteen hours and he'd be damned if Lavi tried pulling a way out of this.

"Get to the point!" He snapped.

"Cross did it!" Lavi shouted wistfully. "It wasn't me, I swear! He was throwing rocks at some kid and he has a terrible aim and it hit the garage!" Bookman looked to the others, who nodded. Kanda didn't bother looking at him at all.

"Whatever, you're calling the repairman over. _I'm _going to bed." He growled and stormed into the house through the door in the garage.

"You're not even going to go snap at Cross?" Lenalee blurted out questionably. Bookman actually seemed to consider this.

"I suppose maybe I _should _chew him out." Bookman said with a quite malicious smile.

Did Lavi mention that his grandfather and Cross didn't exactly get along?

They were both a bit like Lavi and Kanda. They had been friends—better yet, _acquaintances—_for a long time. They never really got along, yet they understood each other quite well. Each of them would take it upon themselves to chew each other out for small things. _Like putting a small dent in a door. _Lavi thought. He couldn't even count how many times the two had bickered at each other for small things. "Oh I have _got _to see this." Daisya said with a mischievous grin as Bookman had stormed off.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Lavi laughed and they all followed after the man. It was only so often that you'd see Bookman lose his cool. Kanda only followed because he didn't want to be left out of the group. They watched amusingly as Bookman threw open the door. All hatred was gone when they heard the door collide with something rather...thick perhaps? They all heard a groan of pain and looked down to see the same white-haired boy gripping his head.

"Oh my—are you alright?" Bookman asked, he didn't kneel down to help him out though. They all winced, especially Lenalee, when they saw blood trail down from his forehead.

"Ahah..." The boy muttered, meaning for it to come out as 'uhuh'.

"I apologize. Now what's the chance that you'd be leaving just as I was walking in?" Bookman asked.

"More like barging in." Lavi snickered, earning a whack to the head from Lenalee.

"No, no, it's fine. Just a small scratch." He mumbled, wiping the blood off on the black sleeve. _Maybe he just went inside to change? _Lavi guessed, staring down at the boy. "It'll probably bruise, but nothing more." He mumbled.

"Still, I apologize. Where is that blasted father of yours?" Bookman asked accusingly. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Father?" He questioned, visibly confused. He frowned when blood had reappeared in the would. Bookman gave Lavi a stern look and the boy knelt down to help him out. He had been taught by Bookman to always keep a spare bandage roll on him. "You mean Cross?" He asked and Bookman nodded his head. Once Lavi got a good look at the cut, he winced. It was a bit deep...

"Yes, he isn't your father?" Bookman asked innocently.

"Not really..." Allen mumbled. He felt a hand on his left shoulder and froze up, looking to his left. He fell over in surprise. "L-Lavi?!" He questioned and Lavi's one eye blinked with surprise.

"Hey, this kid knows my name..." Lavi said, pointing to him. The rest of them also looked confused. They were pretty sure that if they saw this boy they would remember him quite clearly.

"Oi, Allen, what's going on in there?!" Cross yelled from the kitchen. 'Allen' blinked out of his daze and shook his head.

"Nothing!" He called, his voice wavering just by a little.

"A-Allen?!" Lavi, Lenalee, and Daisya shouted in unison. Kanda blinked a few times, frowning. Allen felt a bit dizzy seeing them all here now.

"Bullshit, I know something's—Bookman?!" Cross snarled in the direction of the short elderly man. "What the hell are _you _doing here?" He growled malevolently. The man looked down at Allen and Lavi and surprised look crossed his face. "What the hell...what did you do?!" He snapped at Lavi. The entire house was silent save for a short chuckle form Allen.

"Wow, this a real bad case of deja vu here." He mumbled, holding his bleeding head. Lavi carefully removed Allen's hand and placed a gauze over his head.

"That's a bit terrible to joke about..." Lenalee mumbled back. Allen paused and glanced up at Lavi nervously as he wrapped Allen's head. Bookman and Cross were too busy arguing to reply.

"Enough of this! I'm tired of seeing your face!" Bookman snapped. "No one should have to see your face after working." He grumbled.

"What was that?!" Cross growled, cracking his knuckles.

"You would probably know that experience if you actually _worked. _Now, as payment for nearly putting a hole in my garage..." Bookman trailed off, looking around as if he could find a perfect punishment.

"I am _not _giving _you _anything!" Cross snapped. He then looked down at Allen and Lavi. "Except maybe the kid, you can take him."

"Wha?" Allen asked, a glare suddenly succumbing to his face. "Oi, you don't just give people as gifts to people!" He snapped.

"I don't think you give people away in general." Daisya commented. Allen shrugged and nearly fell over if Lavi didn't catch him. Allen pushed him away, his words bitter.

"Go 'way, 'm fine..." He slurred.

"You don't _sound _fine." Lenalee piped up, trotting over to help him up. She felt a bit hurt when she was also pushed away.

"Don't touch me." He hissed quietly. Daisya also jogged over to help out. He was in soccer once so he knew a light amount of physical injury.

"Hey, look at me." Daisya instructed.

"Why should I?" Allen asked, despite the fact he was looking up.

"Whoa, look at his eyes..." Lenalee muttered, pointing to his left pupil, which was dilated. Daisya held up three fingers to Allen's blurred vision.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" He asked seriously and Kanda chortled when Allen furrowed his brow in confusion. He'd tried to focus so hard he didn't even realize Lavi's comforting hand on his left shoulder.

"Uh..." He muttered before shaking his head and nearly falling over from the action. "Don't care...ugh, tired...head hurts..." He complained, laying his head on Lavi's shoulder and closing his eyes. Then he quickly opened them and shoved him away. "Why you still here?" He asked intolerably.

"He's got a concussion." Bookman informed. "Lavi, help him up."

"No. Don't want help, 'specially not from _you." _He growled.

"Too bad, kid." Cross scorned and gave a glare to Lavi. Lavi acted immediately and grabbed Allen's left arm. The instant pull away made him cautious.

"Allen, I'm just trying to help." Lavi explained quietly and watched the boy sweat a bit and clench his fists into the carpet.

"I was too..." He whispered so quietly that only Lenalee and Lavi could hear him. They both paused in helping him up hearing that. "...sorry..." He muttered quietly as the two began moving again to help him up. Lavi shook his head and put his arm around Allen to help him to his room.

"You're not the one who should be sorry."

* * *

**Angsty fluff anyone? :3 Finished this chapter around 4am and around that time my mind loves the angst. I really meant for this chapter to be happy but...my mind wasn't fully functioning...? Agh my head hurts. Well, I hope you enjoy this second chapter! I've decided to increase the chances of a prize for someone. If someone recommends a song to me and it's put in the story, I'll also reward them with a prize because songs give me plot bunnies :3 If I've already heard of it I'll try to put it in there somewhere anyways. Not really sure how long this story will be but hopefully it'll be long enough to fit maybe...50 songs in? Let's see how far I can make this happen :3**


	3. Sing Sing

**I'm so excited to keep writing this story! It's really fun so far and I can only imagine what would have gone down if Allen never knew Lavi to begin with! :D Anyways, here is the next chapter to DM!**

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It was probably around one o' clock in the morning when Allen was finally treated the right way. Everyone but Lenalee had stayed since she had curfew, courtesy of her brother, Komui. Daisya was dozing off in a recliner and Kanda was leaning up against a wall with his eyes closed—pretending to be wide awake. He usually stayed up late, but he felt exhausted after all that had happened today. He almost snorted when he realized that they waited for nothing since Bookman said that Allen had to rest anyways. It was really quite ironic, Kanda thought. Lavi had declined Allen's offer to join their band yet now it was _Lavi _who wanted _Allen _to _join._

Lavi rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he watched Allen's chest move up and down in a steady rhythm. He could feel the note in his pocket burning against his skin. Yes, he had moved on, but he still kept the note with him to remind him that he needed to keep himself together whenever someone had ditched him. It was a bit funny, he always expected that _he'd _be the one to break up with Allen, not the other way around. Still, Lavi remembered that the librarian had mentioned that he looked a lot different than before. _What happened to you, Allen? _Lavi wondered and closed his eyes. He tried not to get upset that Allen would come back now of all times when Lavi had already gotten over him. He shook his head and stood up.

"I'm going home." He replied, not really realizing that he had been beside Allen the entire time. Bookman nodded with agreement and opened the door. Daisya jolted awake when he heard the door open.

"Huh? What time is it?" He asked sluggishly.

"Like one o' clock in the morning." Kanda grumbled and resisted the urge to rub his tired eyes. "Let's go, stupid daisy." Kanda grumbled; the only reason he really stayed was because Tiedoll, his adoptive father, told him not to leave Daisya behind. Kanda was first out the door with Daisya following suite. Bookman left after then and Lavi gave Allen one last glance before closing his eyes, sighing, and walking out the door, shutting it behind him. Allen's eyelids fluttered open and a saddened look came across his face.

"Why did you pretend to sleep?" Cross asked gruffly. Allen's eyes darted over to Cross and he scowled before realizing that the action made his head hurt.

"Long story." He replied, not really wanting to tell Cross that Lavi was his ex-boyfriend. Cross was a bit of a homophobe, though he knew that the man would somewhat still accept it if he dated a guy.

"Who was he to you?" Cross asked, a hint of his voice said that he may have already knew.

"An old friend that I parted with when I went to live in England to study music." Allen answered.

"Why music?" Cross asked. Allen smiled, thinking about the first time he started to learn playing the keyboard with his father. It had been so fun—he didn't even realize that making music like that was so wonderful—even if it was hard in the beginning. The sound of completion was what brought joy to his own face, not just Mana's. From then on, Allen felt determined to study music.

"I guess you could say I'm fond of it." Allen said with a soft smile. His smile faltered when he thought about how Lavi was his neighbor in this duplex of his. "I want to see my uncle tomorrow. Are you going to take me? I'm sure you don't want me leaving with your car and then not coming back for awhile." Allen said quietly.

"Are you trying to avoid that boy?" Cross asked bluntly and Allen winced. _How did he know?!_

"No, I haven't seen him in three years and I don't want him to hate me for what happened..." He half-lied. Allen really _did _want to avoid Lavi, but he really did need to see his uncle.

"I'll take you there tomorrow around seven." Cross said with understanding. He knew that there were some people that he'd rather avoid—like Bookman for example.

"Thanks." Allen muttered and sat up on the couch. "I'm going to my room now." He knew that he didn't have to tell Cross that, but he didn't want to end up bumping into the man somehow or breaking something. For some reason, he always seemed to be clumsy and got himself into a lot of trouble in the past.

"See ya in the morning, brat." Cross said and stood up as well. Allen knew that this was the way that Cross said 'goodnight' to him.

Cross was quite a harsh guardian, but it was because of that that Allen was able to move forward. He just needed a _very _violent shove in the right direction. Neah, his uncle, wouldn't even look at him after what happened. He was never really close to his uncle anyways, so that made it all the more worse. Allen really didn't have to worry about school either since he was homeschooled; although, if he screwed up he knew Cross wouldn't think twice about transferring him in. It was only two weeks into the school year after all.

Allen sat down in his empty room that had full boxes placed everywhere. The only other things in his room was his bed, dresser, and bedside table. He supposed that he should probably fill up the room some more now that he would be living here for the next three years of his life. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a small pendant that hung around his neck and popped it open, staring into the lively eyes of his own and Mana's grand smile with his uncle a bit farther back with his own smile that adorned his face.

"...goodnight, Mana." Allen whispered and closed it shut before laying down in bed. He never took it off unless he was taking a shower. The boy stretched and threw his blankets over him, hugging one of the extra pillows close to his chest and clearing his head so he didn't have to think about anything. Tomorrow he didn't need to have any worries. He'd be able to avoid Lavi all he wanted if Lavi thought that he lived with his uncle. Not seeing Lavi is just what he needed when he lived here and he would pull it off successfully.

...or not.

"Hello, earth to Lavi? Lavi! Jeez, you've never been this out of it before! Lavi! HEY!" Lenalee shouted, smacking a clipboard over his head.

"OW! Lenalee, what was that for?!" He asked with a whine. Just what _was _that clipboard _made _out of anyways?!

"I've been calling out to you for five minutes! This is ridiculous, Lavi. Is Allen on your mind?" She asked.

"No!" Lavi lied.

"Oh? Then why are you so defensive?" She asked with a sly grin.

"Because he isn't what I'm thinking about! I'm just thinking about the competition a few days from now! We _still _need to come up with another song. You can't just find a song off the top of your head you know!" He lied. It was actually one of his best lies yet.

"Oh...wow, now you're getting me stressed...maybe we should just do a cover?" She suggested and Lavi shook his head.

"No! That's like an excuse! Definitely not professional, Len—OW! Yuu~ what was that for~?" Lavi cried melodramatically.

"Shut the hell up, you're too loud." He growled. Lavi just grinned.

"America is a free country, Yuu, we're not in Japan anymo—OW! It was just a joke!" The redhead whined, rubbing his aching head where Kanda had hit him..._twice._

"We could always make a remix of two songs?" She recommended. Lavi shook his head.

"That's no good, Lenalee! We've got to make a song up on the fly." Lenalee frowned at his desperation.

"Lavi, making a song up takes more than just a few days not to mention we all have to write out different parts. Maybe...we can ask for a song from someone?" Lenalee's suggestions were the only ones that seemed to make sense, but Lavi didn't seem to think so. Well, the last one he actually _considered._

"Where would we get that at?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Maybe we can put a flier up about it?" She suggested. Lavi tapped his chin dramatically in thought.

"I don't know, Lenalee, we need as much time as we can get and you never know how long it might take for someone to contact us...not to mention we don't even have a name for ourselves." He snickered, receiving a whack by the clipboard.

"Lavi, that is not something to joke about! We need to hurry up and come up with a name before it's too late..." She trailed off, thinking about names that wouldn't sound too original.

"I wish our school's name wasn't Black Order cause that sounds totally wicked. We could totally go with that if our school didn't steal it." Lenalee rolled her eyes at Lavi's words.

"Lavi, the school had the name first, they didn't steal it. Try again, Lavi." Lavi hummed in thought.

"Oh! I got one!" He chirped brightly.

"You do?!" Lenalee and Daisya, who was previously trying to finish his homework before sixth period, almost shouted together.

"How about Lavilicious~?" That name suggestion earned him three whacks. "I was just trying to lighten the mood!" He cried, covering his head. "Though that should seriously be a word." He added quite seriously.

"You're so stupid." Lenalee sighed in defeat, closing her eyes whilst shaking her head. She opened one eye when she heard Lavi rustling around in her purse. She didn't really have anything to hide in there... "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Me? Well since _you're _the smart one, I figured you must have _something _in here that'll help..." He paused when he came across a very _interesting _pouch. "What the hell, did you store a rainbow in here or something? What's with all these colorful...wait...are these...?" Lavi trailed off, trying to pull one out. Lenalee quickly kicked his shin and snatched her purse away from him.

"Don't pull it out." She hissed, looking around to see if anyone saw. Daisya had fallen over with laughter at Lenalee's blush, having a clue of what Lavi was trying to pull out.

"What is it~? Tell me!" Lavi demanded and tried prying the girl's purse away. Lenalee leaned in to whisper in his ear. He blinked several times. "Tampons?!" He asked quite loudly, causing a lot of people to look over at him in disgust. Why would he talk about such a thing when they were all in the cafeteria _eating lunch? _Lenalee face palmed and both Daisya and Kanda gave him an agitated look.

"Idiot. Don't be so loud." Daisya seethed and Kanda just glared at him.

"Okay...so then...why are they _colorful. _The last time I checked, a girl's period wasn't all rainbows and butterflies." Lavi said casually as if they were talking about the weather. He looked to Lenalee for an explanation.

"Does it _look _like I make them?" She asked rhetorically. "Listen, Lavi, that's just how I bought them! They were originally $13.45 but—" Cue the spit takes. "—they were on sale, so I bought them for $3.95! I couldn't help it that they were colorful, I was just trying to get a good price here."

"Who would pay that much for some cotton that you just stick up your—"

"LAVI!" Lenalee hurriedly snapped to censor him.

"What?!" Lavi asked, throwing his hands up in mock defense. "Seriously! And what, did you dump the entire _box _in your purse? Jesus, Lenalee, I'm just curious here. Do tampons _really _cost that much?!" He asked. Lenalee frowned at him.

"Well, they're more comfortable and it's a popular brand, so—"

"They're more _comfortable? _What, do some of them just give you cardboard instead of plastic? Oh, let me guess, there are thicker ones too?!" Lavi said, just throwing arguments around. Lenalee stared at him with a blank expression. "You're kidding. Okay, I was really just kidding...do they seriously give you cardboard sometimes?" Lenalee nodded her head at the question. Why were they talking about this again? "...and the size?" She nodded again. "You've _got _to be kidding me. I still don't see the huge deal but then again, I'm not a girl." Lavi said with a shrug.

"Could have fooled me." They all spun around at the bitter feminine voice to see a girl with relatively short orange hair. She had magenta colored eyes and a green mark on her forehead—which was covered up by band of some sort. The only reason Lavi knew that the green mark was there was because he tried messing with her once and took it off. The girl seemed to be fairly insecure about the mark and hated Lavi ever since.

"Fou..." Lenalee glowered. Fou glared her way before exhaling a short huff through her nose and looking away.

"Why are you over here anyways?" Daisya asked a bit bitterly.

"You act like I _came _to see you. I was just passing by." She scowled, glaring down at the brunette.

"Well you can leave now." Kanda murmured distastefully.

"Don't have to tell me." She snapped and walked away angrily.

"I really don't get it..." Lavi muttered after she had sat down next to some girl with large glasses. "Why does she hate me so much? All I did was see her forehead. If she wants to cover it up so much she should make it less obvious and get bangs or something. We all have something to hide anyways, what's the big deal?" He asked rhetorically.

"The big deal is that you saw what she had to hide." Kanda said, stating the obvious. Or what they all thought was obvious. Apparently Lavi didn't think it was.

"So what?"

"You're a rockstar. Let's go, Lavi, the bell's about to ring." Lenalee informed, gathering up their trays and stacking them together.

"Was that a reference I just heard there?" Lavi asked with a proud grin. She winked at him, flashing him a smile of her own.

"Maybe~"

Kanda and Daisya stood up with them and Lenalee dumped their trays. Just a few moments after, the bell rang for sixth period and they all split ways. As Lavi walked to his sixth period classroom alone, his mind started drifting back over to Allen. In the note, was the serious injury he mentioned the tattoo-ish scar over his eye? He didn't see any other damage, but it could've been covered up by the clothes he was wearing. Lavi sighed and shook his head, trying to think of something else...like a cool name for their band. They really did need a name for it since they'd be announcing themselves to the public on Friday...which was three days from now.

What on earth was he going to do?

The final bell of the school day rang loudly and Lavi jumped up as quick as he could, knocking over a few of his books on the floor. He didn't even seem to care and let out a loud cheer. He was so relieved that school was finally over. Allen lived _right _next door! He could easily go over there and apologize; not to mention explain what happened. Chuckles arose in the classroom and soon faded as everyone exited the classroom, leaving Lavi to ecstatically collect his books and run out the room.

"Bookman, no running in the halls!" His teacher scolded but he ignored her and kept on running. He didn't stop until he came to his locker and threw all his books in his locker, making sure to grab his Pre-Calculus book before it fell out of his hands. He stuffed it in his bag and quickly through it over his shoulder, slamming the locker.

"You seem excited." A drawl emanated from beside him and he nearly jumped out of his clothes seeing Fou there.

"Holy _crap! _You scared the shit out of me!" He yelled, grabbing his chest to still his beating heart. He received a couple of disapproving stares from teacher that were walking by and gave them an apologetic grin. Lavi then looked over at Fou with puzzlement etched onto his face. "So why _are _you here?" He asked a bit sourly.

"Hm, I dunno, maybe to get to my locker? Your fat ass wouldn't get out of the way." She growled and messed with the dial that was beside Lavi's own one. He blinked at her curiously.

"Eh? I didn't know you were my locker neighbor." He chirped curiously.

"Unfortunate, isn't it?" She growled lightly and yanked her locker open. Honestly, Lavi expected her locker to be girly with glittery butterflies like Lenalee's...instead, he was met with posters of bands that looked pretty badass. She glared at him in the corner of her eye. "What?" She asked but it sounded more like a demand.

"Noooothing!" He chimed and started waltzing away.

"Tch, he's totally gay." Fou stated. She didn't really seem to be against the idea, though.

"Hey, Lena~!" Lavi greeted excitedly behind his long-haired female friend. She jumped a bit, having a deep conversation with the girl that Fou sat with at lunch.

"L-Lavi?! Gee, you scared me! What do you want?" She asked and Lavi hummed.

"Nothing. Just saying hi." He grinned. Lenalee rolled her eyes and bid farewell to the girl in pigtails.

"Who was she?" Lavi asked, looking behind him at the girl who was blushing furiously. For some reason, he swore that he'd seen her somewhere before...

"Her name is Lou Fa, I just needed the, uh, chemistry homework for tonight." Lenalee lied. Lavi just let out a soft 'oh'. "So what are _you _so chipper about?" She asked, changing the subject and hoping that Lavi didn't see through her lie.

"Eh? You're the second person to say that...can't a guy be in a good mood for once?" He asked with a really wide grin that literally looked like it hurt.

"Right, whatever, so I have an idea about where we can get a song." She said happily.

"Really?! Where? Do you think we can get a name for our band there too?" Lavi asked. Lenalee smiled and nodded.

"You know my neighbor, Neah?" She questioned even though it wasn't needed. The man would lend them a hand sometimes whenever their instruments broke or were scratched. He could be strict sometimes, but overall, he was cool.

"That's an _amazing_ idea, Lenalee!" Lavi almost jumped from excitement.

"Yep. Kanda's going to take us there." She informed. Lavi blinked for a minute before frowning.

"Right now?" A tinge of his voice subdued to complaint, though Lenalee didn't hear it.

"Well, duh. Please don't tell me you have a date after school. I thought you might be excited about this." Lavi shook his head.

"I am excited! So, where is Yuu?" He asked. Lenalee pointed to the library where he and Daisya were walking out. "Oh my lord, did Yuu just walk out of a _library? _Is this the same Yuu that absolutely _hates _books? Who are you and what have you done with—ow! Why does _everyone _insist on hitting me today?! Jeez, are you all on your period or somethi—ow! Just. Kidding!" He grumbled, rubbing his thoroughly abused head.

"Shut up. I was only in there because this idiot was too afraid to go in there alone. Stupid pansy." He growled quietly.

"Oh...how lame. Anyways, let's go!" He said with a grin and skipped outside to the parking lot. "Come on! You guys are _way _too slow!" He taunted cheerfully.

"Okay, who gave Lavi an energy drink?" Daisya asked the two of them. Lenalee shrugged at him.

"I have no idea what's up with him today." Lenalee said with a frown. "He's been like that since school ended. Maybe he's just excited to finally be able to get a song, he has been stressing over it for awhile." She suggested. Daisya frowned at her.

"Doesn't he have that notebook full of incomplete songs? Why can't we just use one of them?" Daisya asked. Lenalee blinked a few times like she'd just now remembered.

"I wonder why..." She said softly. "I didn't even think about that."

"Oi, slowpokes! Get in the damn truck already!" Kanda barked, gesturing to the black truck in front of them They all nodded. Daisya and Lavi both grinned and hopped in the back of the truck, holding on to the tailgate excitedly. Lenalee rolled her eyes and climbed into the passenger seat. Kanda slowly backed out, being the one in the driver's seat. As soon as they were out of the school, he sped up. He and Lenalee both rolled their eyes at the whooping teenagers outside. "Che, morons." He smirked and stepped on the brakes. Lavi, who was on his knees with his hands high in the air, flew backwards and hit his head against the window.

It's safe to say that Lavi wasn't going to do _that _again.

They arrived to Neah's house shortly after and Lavi had been grumbling at Kanda for slamming on the brakes earlier ago. "There was an annoying rabbit in the road." He said with a smirk.

"Oh please, we all know that you would've hit it." Daisya commented.

"Shut up, daisy." Kanda snapped and rapped three short knocks on Neah's door. The music that was muffled could be heard spilling out as the door was opened to a man with nicely tanned skin and dark brown hair—his eyes shining a bright golden. To be honest, they all thought he seemed to be in a better mood than what he was usually in.

"Good afternoon, guys!" He said in a sing-song voice. "You all need something? You didn't snap a guitar string again did you Kanda?" The man asked politely and Kanda scowled at him.

"Fuck no. We're here because the moronic rabbit needs help." Neah chuckled at Kanda's words and stepped aside, gesturing for them to come inside. There was a loud crash in the kitchen and soft cursing. Lavi and Lenalee's eyebrows shot up together and they looked at Neah curiously.

"Hah, sorry, my nephew came by to visit me today!" He said, grinning at the fact. "He's a bit clumsy, though."

"Your nephew? Your deceased brother's child?" Daisya asked and the others frowned at the way he worded it.

"Ah...yes." Neah replied solemnly. "It's been so long since he's visited, though. I wonder what brought him to come visit me in the first place...he came here and then insisted on helping me around the house rather than going out. So, to lighten the mood, I put on some tunes." Neah said with a smile. Lavi sweat dropped at what Neah's idea of 'light tunes' were.

_All the small things_

_True care truth brings_

_I'll take one lift_

_Your ride best trip_

_Always I know_

_You'll be at my show_

_Watching, waiting,_

_Commiserating_

The person in the kitchen seemed to like the song though, humming along with it. _Is it just me or is that hum familiar? _Lavi thought distractedly as Neah told them that they should sit down while he retrieved them some drinks. Just as Neah walked into the kitchen, his nephew passed by him to go downstairs in the laundry room. He mumbled amusingly to himself about someone not knowing where they were going. He chuckled a bit as he walked back and forth from the kitchen and the living room to give them their drinks.

"Your nephew sounds troublesome." Lenalee giggled. Neah sweat dropped and nodded.

"Well, it's been forever since he's been here so he barely remembers anything about this place." Neah chuckled and heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "He'll probably end up running into that wall right there. It wasn't there before."

"Hm? Didn't you get that wall installed like two years ago?" Lavi asked, staring at him incredulously.

"Yeah, he hasn't been here in three years." Neah informed with a somber smile. Lenalee smiled apologetically to the man.

Just as Neah predicted, the boy ran straight into the wall on the other side and let soft curses out under his breath.

"Okay, that wall _definitely _wasn't there before." He growled. Lavi and Daisya burst into hysterics and Lenalee tried hiding her smile behind her hand, letting out small giggles. Kanda just rolled his eyes. The supposed 'nephew' peeked his white head full of hair behind the wall and his jaw dropped.

The person he was trying to avoid so much, just happened to be there sitting on the couch, casually laughing at his clumsiness. He blushed deeply and muttered something before disappearing behind the wall. He sighed and rubbed his temples, wondering how he was supposed to face them now. Last night he really didn't mean to be so bitter, but the memories of the truth he'd figured out three years ago kept reappearing in his head and he hated it so much. He just felt so emotional for no reason.

_I'm just making it a bigger deal than it really is! We're not together anymore and I don't really matter to him. He just helped me last night because his grandfather told him to! Even if we _did _become friends, it's not like it'd be a bad thing. He already understands everything that's going on so just...quit sulking and move! _Allen demanded himself and stood up. He started to march around the corner, not expecting someone to walk around to check on him. Just as he almost walked around the wall, he collided with the one person he had been trying to avoid. The impact had him falling backwards. Lavi quickly reached out and caught Allen's hand in one hand whilst holding his back with his other hand. Basically, Lavi just french dipped him.

...and then dropped him.

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**Heheheh, I had to! A hint to the song title is that the band that sings this also sings the actual title of this story!**


	4. My Life Would Suck Without You

**This title was originally going to be the one of the last chapter but you see how that worked out x3 So far, all of the chapters I've posted have already been written before. You see, I was left without internet for two days and my boredom got the best of me...:3 Still, I hope you all have enjoyed it so far without your plot bunnies! (though I do plan on using them soon if there are any! ^v^) So we're starting to go down the roller coaster of angst and happiness here, going down at a fast pace of cheerfulness :D (don't call me corny...?) This chapter is actually quite bright :3 Minor warning here for a lot of cursing on Kanda's part...x)**

* * *

"Gah! I totally didn't mean to do that!" Lavi said with a blush and Allen resisted the urge to rub his behind, where Lavi had just dropped him. He was bit thankful that Lavi had caught him, but then the redhead had to go and drop him. Wasn't he just _charming?_

"So nice of you to drop me." Allen replied with a scowl.

"Oh, yeah, uh, you just, um, surprised me there...soooo, Neah's your uncle?" Lavi questioned, rocking on the balls of his feet as Allen gathered the clothes that had spilled out of the laundry basket before.

"Pretty sure." Allen answered with a glower. He was about to walk past Lavi when he felt a hand on his chest, preventing him from doing so. The white-haired teen blinked and looked up at Lavi confusingly.

"Um, can I talk to you?" He asked softly.

"...about what?" Allen asked back.

"About...what happened...between us, I mean." Lavi quietly replied. Allen sighed and shifted the basket on his side. He opened his mouth to say something but a certain uncle intervened.

"_What _happened between you two?" Neah asked, an overprotective look crossing his face. Both boys blushed and looked the opposite direction of the man. Allen couldn't bear to tell him.

"Nothing, Neah, just go away." Allen grumbled, not looking at his curious uncle.

"But I wanna know what happened~!" Neah whined.

"Neah. Please just leave." Allen said in a warning tone. He pouted before dramatically throwing his nose in the air.

"Whatever you say, but you're telling me what happened later." He huffed and walked off. Allen and Lavi cautiously looked at each other. Allen put the basket down and walked the other way, beckoning for Lavi to follow since he knew that his uncle would try eavesdropping on them. He paused in an empty room before turning to face him, his heart hammering loudly against his chest.

"So?" Allen asked, bracing himself for the worst.

"...I'm sorry." Lavi said, releasing air that he didn't know he was holding in. Lavi almost chuckled at the blank expression that came across his ex-boyfriend's face.

"...uh, what?" Clearly the Freshman wasn't expecting _that. _Lavi stepped forward to get to a comfortable distance and stared into Allen's gray eyes with his sincere green one. He wished that he had both eyes just as he did back then to fully see who Allen was now.

"I'm sorry. Back then...those three years ago...Kanda wasn't lying about the whole playing around thing." Lavi said honestly, seeing Allen visibly tense up. The boy's eyes had flickered with sadness, but only for a second.

"Lavi—" Allen really didn't want to hear this. He wanted to cower and run again, but he knew better than to do that. If he didn't run that last time, then maybe he could've properly said goodbye...

"—However, it wasn't like that." He interrupted and Allen frowned, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Huh?" Allen blinked.

"You see, that's how it was at first. You asked me out, and I figured I had nothing to lose, so I accepted it. Just listen." Lavi said when Allen tried opening his mouth to protest against hearing this. "As I got to know you better, I realized that yes, I was wrong for doing that and I really _did _feel close to you. I want to apologize for the stupid mistake I made. I swear, cross my heart, that I really did like you after all that had happened. You just...didn't give me time to explain, and I don't blame you. I want to thank you, Allen. Because of you, because of what you wrote to me...that's probably been one of the most inspiring things I've read that someone has written about me. It really helped me to move on." He finished with a smile. Allen was quiet for a few minutes before a small smile graced his lips.

"I see...I guess that I should say sorry then. I shouldn't have ran away when I did." He sighed, ruffling his white hair. Lavi grinned and offered out his arms.

"So...friends?" He asked. Allen wanted to laugh at the childish action, but settled for smiling. He walked forward a bit and hugged him.

"Yeah...I'd like that..." Allen said, his voice muffled by Lavi's shoulder. Was that his own heartbeat that he felt?

"Awesome! So, now I have another offer for you!" He said with a wide grin, retreating from the hug. Allen gave the redhead a puzzled look. "How would you like to join our band?" The Senior couldn't help but let out a chuckle as Allen's jaw hung open in surprise. He recovered five minutes later, but just barely; he opened and closed his mouth several times before he managed to come up with what he wanted to say.

"Are you serious?!" He asked and Lavi could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Of course!" Lavi laughed and took Allen's reaction as a yes.

Frankly, Allen really thought that he'd never be able to join the band. They were deadset on the rule of no relationships allowed in the band. Back then, in order to join, Allen would have to break up with Lavi to join their band...but if he did that then he knew everyone would be awkward around him if he did do that. So, Allen settled for choosing Lavi over the band. He never dreamed that this type of choice would befall upon him. The happiness that shone in the eyes answered Lavi's obvious question.

"Oh, you should probably get ready to play on Friday." Lavi requested with a casual air.

"_What!?" _Allen asked, starting to regret joining already. "B-but, Lavi, I don't know any of your music! Not to mention you probably don't even have a part for what I play—or well, what _did _you want me to play?"

"What else besides keyboard? You know how, don't you?" He asked, ignoring all of Allen's other questions. Allen nodded, biting his lip. "Well then, we'll figure something out!" He said with an excited smile and grabbed Allen's right wrist before dragging him throughout the house, ignoring Allen's rambling about...well Lavi didn't know what he was rambling about. He was just too excited about telling the others. "Hey guys~ I think I found our new keyboardist~!" Lavi sang. Kanda choked on his tea and Lenalee spat hers out. Daisya, who wasn't drinking his tea, let his jaw drop.

"You can_not _be serious!" Kanda snarled.

"Definitely serious!" Lavi sang, his voice laced with joy.

"I don't really think it's such a bad idea..." Lenalee started slowly. "But, what about the competition Friday? He doesn't really know any of the music—"

"Jeez, now you sound like him, Lenalee! Have some faith will you?"

"I think Allen joining the band would be a fan_tastic _idea!" Neah said, clapping with his own excitement. "I can't imagine anyone better for the job!...is that why you guys came here?" Neah asked.

"Um, no, I didn't even know you two were related." Lavi answered honestly and Neah's face fell.

"But...my last name is Walker...and so is Allen's...how could you not...?" Neah asked, tilting his head.

"I didn't really think about that." He replied. "Anyways, the only reason we came here was for help for a new song."

"A song?" Neah asked.

"Yeah! You see, the competition requires three songs and we've only got two. I can't use any of the ones in that notebook because they're all incomplete and I really don't know how to finish it..." Lavi mumbled, his ego sizing itself down a bit.

"A song, huh?" Neah hummed and looked over at Allen. Allen noticed this from the corner of his eye and winced when a bright smile flashed on his face. "Oh! I know, maybe Allen can—" A hand smacked over Neah's mouth. It would've resounded through the room if it wasn't muffled by his gloves.

"...Allen can...?" Lenalee rolled her hand, inviting him to continue. Neah bit into Allen's hand since licking wouldn't work and the boy seethed at his uncle, massaging the skin through his glove.

"_We _can try to help is what he was saying." Allen finished promptly. "You're not slacking off, Neah." Allen grumbled to make his lie more believable.

"Uh...okay..." Lenalee said slowly and looked at the two of them.

"Right...so do you have any idea whatsoever?" Neah asked. "Actually, there was something else I wanted to ask...what's your band name?" He asked, hoping that the name might give him an idea for a song.

"About that..." Lavi muttered, nervously shoving his hands in his jean pockets. Instead of looking at Neah, he decided to look at Allen, noticing that he wasn't wearing formal wear like he was yesterday. Instead the boy donned a nice fit (and when Lavi meant nice, he _meant _nice) of dark red skinny jeans, black knee-high boots, and a collared long-sleeved black shirt. His outfit was finished with a pair of white gloves—much like the ones he used to wear. He glanced at Neah to see that he was wearing them as well.

Lenalee, seeing that Lavi wasn't going to finish, continued for him. "...we kinda don't have one."

"Wait, so you're entering in a competition and you don't even have a _name?" _He asked disbelievingly.

"Yep." Daisya answered. "We don't want some sappy name, but anything that's sounds cool is fine with us. It can be anything."

"Not _anything. _We have our limits!" Lenalee intervened.

"Why don't we just do this the old fashioned way then? Everyone write down a name on a piece of paper..." Neah explained whilst ripping a piece of notebook paper into several strips. "...and we'll see how far that gets us." They all nodded and sat down as Neah passed them the papers. Five minutes later, Neah glanced around at the five band members. None of them had written a single thing down. Just a second later, Kanda let out an agitated roar and crinkled the empty sheet up, throwing it.

"Fuck this, I can't do it! Now my head fucking hurts." He growled, crossing his arms.

"What's so hard about it? You just have to write at least one name down..." Neah mumbled with a frown.

"You know Neah..." Allen started off in a teasing voice—something that none of them had ever heard from him before. "You should pity the poor guy, he's a lot slower than normal people and doesn't really think so much, which is probably why his head hurts so bad. It's small size simply can't take the press—ah!" Allen screamed and ducked when Kanda aimed a kick at him.

"Stupid beansprout! If _I'm _so dumb, then why haven't _you _written anything down either?!" He growled.

"At least I didn't get a headache from thinking so little." Allen shot back.

"Neah, you better get you nephew to shut up right now or I swear I'll—"

"You'll do what? Obviously you can't shut me up yourself since you're relying on Neah to do it for yo—ahh!" Allen yelped as Kanda lunged for him and pinned him to the ground. One of his hands were over his mouth and the other was on his chest to keep him down. Lenalee squeaked and Lavi shouted with surprise. Daisya just sat still as if this whole thing was normal around him.

"Now what? Can't say anything now, can you beansprout?" Kanda really didn't like that gleam in Allen's eye. He froze when he felt something _wet _rub against his skin. Kanda jumped back and his back collided with the table. "You sick fuck! You just licked me!" Kanda accused while Allen was drying his tongue on his gloves like he'd just licked the most disgusting thing in the world.

"Maybe I should have _bitten _you." Allen growled after sticking his tongue back in his mouth. Lavi fell off the couch from laughter, Lenalee was shaking her head and Daisya sighed. Neah just watched in all curiously with an amused grin on his face. From the information he's heard before, Allen would never stand up against Kanda, even if the teen was joking. It seemed that their violent playfulness relieved the both of them.

"How about we take a break from this?" Lavi suggested, even though it's basically only been ten minutes since they started. "We'll just figure it out later. Hm...I know! We should celebrate!" They all stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"We should celebrate...because we can't find a title for our band...?" Daisya asked. Lavi received the same look from all of them.

"No, we should celebrate getting a new member!" He cheered.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt..." Lenalee said slowly with a smile.

"I'm in, so what're we gonna do?" Daisya asked.

"How about we order out and say...order a movie?" Lavi asked, looking at Neah for permission.

"Sure, sure...on one condition." Neah said with an air of playful professionalism.

"What's that?" Lavi asked.

"I'm ordering the food for all of us, but I will _not _be paying for it! Allen and Daisya are excluded from the payment since they're both fifteen and jobless. I'll pay for the movie, but I'll be _damned _before I pay for a damn food bill that includes Allen Walker's name in it." He finished, crossing his arms in the shape of an X. Daisya fist pumped when he heard that he was excluded from the bill. He hated spending his allowance on food since it eventually disappeared anyways.

"You just named, like, four conditions!" Lavi said accusingly.

"Well, I wasn't interrupted, right? I think it counts as one condition when it comes to the person who never stops interrupting people." Neah said, giving Lavi his own accusing stare.

"...right. Oh, there's another thing...what's so bad about ordering food with Allen?" He asked.

"I'm guessing while you two were together, you never took him out on a date?" Neah guessed and Allen's jaw dropped. _How does he know Lavi and I went out?! And how does he even know that we're not going out now?! Ugh, I'm so confused!_

"No, he'd never let me." Lavi replied, nonchalant.

"Didn't think so..." Neah sighed and looked elsewhere. "I'm going to go order pizza or something, any complaints?" He asked, though his tone of voice demanded that there shouldn't be any complaints. They all shook their heads and Kanda didn't even look at him to agree. "You guys look for a movie, the remote's on the couch...somewhere...be right back!" Neah waved and disappeared into the kitchen for privacy. Lavi looked at Allen curiously.

"So why _doesn't _your uncle want to pay for food with you involved?" He asked. Allen shrugged and feigned innocence.

"Dunno, he's just weird. I just eat a little more than some people and he just makes a big deal out of it." Allen replied, knowing that 'a little more' wasn't just 'a little'.

"A _little _more? A _little _more, Allen?! You've already eaten like three boxes of pizza by yourself!" Lavi exclaimed loudly. "And they're large!" Allen gave him a frown that looked more like a pout as a strand of cheese fell from his lips and onto his chin.

"Why are you giving me that look? It's only three boxes...Neah said that I should eat a lot if I want to grow..."

"_Only?! Only three boxes?! _Allen, these pizzas are _large! _I'm only on my second piece! Where do you even _put _it all?!" Allen winced at the noisiness of Lavi's voice.

"You're too loud." He remarked, licking the cheese that was on his chip and shoving the rest of the pizza crust in his mouth.

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Daisya muttered and pushed the piece of pizza on his napkin away. Neah chuckled and swallowed his fifth slice. Allen's face brightened and he pointed at the half-eaten pizza.

"You gonna eat that?" He asked cheerfully.

"N-no...you can have it...? Neah where's the bathroom?" Daisya asked as he held his stomach.

"Over there down that hall, second door on your right." Neah instructed and Daisya all but jumped up from the couch. Allen devoured what was left of Daisya pizza in a near five seconds.

"God damn it, why haven't you choked yet?" Kanda asked with a sneer. Allen scoffed at him.

"Is that seriously all that you've been waiting for?" He asked jeeringly.

"Yes, I've been waiting for you to choke and die." Kanda hissed.

"Well, that isn't going to happen. Go wait somewhere else, you're killing the mood." The white-haired teen glowered.

"Then I won't be able to see you die, _beansprout." _Kanda had the most displeasing frown on his face, Allen's face mirrored the image.

"My name is Allen." The boy growled, putting his pizza down for a second.

"Guys, can we _please _not fight?" Lenalee asked politely, wincing at the retching sounds coming from Neah's bathroom.

"No, Lenalee, we can take this as a chance to steal the pizza before Allen eats it all!" Lavi whispered, reaching for a piece of pizza from the box slyly. Allen and Kanda bickered back and forth to each other, ignoring Lavi, who was making haste with his eating.

"Faggot." Kanda growled.

"Girl." Allen snapped back.

"Fucker."

"Moron."

"Shithead."

"Idiot."

"Coward."

"Nitwit."

"Fucktard."

"Arse."

"What are you an idiot? It's pronounced 'ass', dumbfuck." Kanda's eye twitched.

"Screw off, twat." Allen grumbled.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" Kanda asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Twat." Allen replied shortly.

"What the fuck is a twat?"

"It's a British slang word for a female's genitals." Neah informed, intervening with their little insult competition.

"Oh you're gonna get it now!" Kanda fumed. He made a lunge for the boy for the second time that day. Allen moved backwards to avoid it, but Kanda was much faster than him.

"Get off of me you sick—" Allen was cut off when Kanda headbutted him. The boy shouted with pain and kneed the older teen in the stomach, to which he was satisfied to hear a wheeze come from him.

"You brat!" Kanda growled and the two wrestled around, worrying Lenalee quite a bit until she'd literally had plenty of their constant fighting.

"ENOUGH!" She bellowed and whacked them both upside the head. The two parted at the sound of Lenalee's voice, but were still bickering quiet insults at each other. They each panted and Daisya had finally returned from the bathroom, peeking around the corner to see if he was safe.

"Whoa, what happened to you two?" He asked the two disheveled teens.

"You missed a fight scene, Daisya, it was _so _cool! Damn, Allen, where did you learn to fight like that? No one ever usually wins or at least is on par with Yuu." It took Allen a moment to realize that Lavi wasn't talking about him, but Kanda instead. He was going to answer until Daisya let out a whine.

"Man, how could I miss this?!" Daisya asked with a whine.

"Because you were too busy throwing your guts up in the bathroom." Lavi answered, despite the fact that the question was rhetorical.

"Sensitive stomach..." He explained with a grumble.

"Sure~" Lavi sang teasingly, taking a large bite out of a piece of pizza—it wasn't as bad as how Allen ate though. The boy ate like he was a starving orphan...which technically...he kinda was, save for the _starving _part.

"Okay!" Neah chirped after finishing his sixth slice of pizza. "Who wants to order a movie?"

"Oh! I wanna choose it!" Lavi said, raising his hand like the little kid he was.

"Fuck off, rabbit, you always choose those cheesy romantic movies." Kanda growled; he'd rather watch an action movie than some story about some woman falling in love with the man of her dreams.

"I much prefer comedy." Daisya said with a grin and Neah flipped through the channels of the TV to see what he could find.

"I think I'm going to go with Daisya this time. Lavi, you've gotten to choose what we've watched for the past five times and before that Kanda got to choose." She reasonably said, patting Daisya on the shoulder for emphasis. Neah gave Allen the remote once he was in the comedy section and the whitette flipped through the movies curiously. He stopped on a movie called 'The Heat' and read the description whilst Lavi and Kanda bickered about something that had to do with unromantic twats or something.

"How about 'The Heat'? It looks interesting and it's a comedy." Allen suggested.

"I'm in!" Daisya called, snickering at Lavi and Kanda, who were playfully glaring at each other. Lenalee nodded her head in agreement.

Allen clicked on it and bought the movie without Kanda or Lavi's permission. He figured they'd just shut up if the movie started. He felt a bit victorious when the two _did _decide to shut up and watch the movie. They watched the movie and there were two different types of girls that were both detectives. One was professional and organized, while the other was vulgar and ill-tempered. The girls had many disagreements and, all in all, the movie was hilarious. No one talked during the movie, though there were a couple of chuckles and laughs here and there.

"That girl reminds me of Kanda." Allen blurted when the vulgar woman let out several curses. The room fell silent until Lavi and Daisya both erupted into full-on laughter. Lenalee giggled and Kanda sent him a glare.

"Pfft, you know, Allen, the other one reminds me of you. The organized one that's all polite and stuff. It makes sense, you know, with the fact that you and Kanda are seemingly at each others throats." Daisya retorted, his and Lavi's laughter increasing seven fold. Allen glowered at him and turned his attention to the TV. The two had to get the man's phone and the girl that supposedly reminded them of him had to act needy and sat on the guy's lap. Kanda snorted as if he was picturing Allen doing that to someone.

"I disagree." Allen said sourly. Lavi and Daisya's laughter just increased and soon, even Lenalee was getting ticked since she couldn't hear the movie.

"Just shut up and watch the movie!" Lenalee growled, aiming a kick from the couch which she was laying on to the boys' heads.

It may have been safe to say that they didn't get any songwriting done.

After the movie ended, the band members all felt themselves drowsy. Kanda felt irritated about driving them all home and nearly smacked Lavi upside the head when he tried to change the radio station. Allen had stayed the night with Neah of course and the two of them talked a bit about Allen's previous relationship before Allen had made his uncle drop it. Neah pouted but dropped the subject—especially after Allen had claimed that he was over Lavi, and they were only friends now.

It was nice, Allen thought, to actually have his own group of friends for once.

* * *

**Heh, still no name for the band and it's been four chapters *~* hopefully I'll get a name once the subject comes up again...but yay, happiness :D Those of you who aren't such ones for angst I suggest you leave now because there will continue to be angst, there'll just be large explosions of happiness from time to time! ^w^**


	5. Hall Of Fame

**I would like to give special thanks to VeridianSoul for actually keeping me at this story. I was actually considering taking it down but she convinced me to keep it up! I'd also like to thank ScytheMeisterA, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, and Will of the Abyss - AllenxRoad for reviewing! As for the band name, I have an idea of what it might be, but there's still time to suggest names for other bands or suggest songs for their band to play. In general, their band will play almost anything but they're moreover like Boys Like Girls, Blink 182, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy or maybe even Hot Chelle Rae (hey I might even use songs from those *wink wink*). Those types of bands, but I'm accepting _anything. _But if you have guessed at anything-including the title of the band fic (*stares at Gyneth expectantly*) make sure you visit my profile to look and see! I've also posted small hints to who the songs might be by by putting their initials next to the name. So far, all that's been guessed is the title, so there is plenty of time to guess all the artists of the chapters! Now, without further adieu, I bring you the fifth chapter of Desperate Measures!**

* * *

Sunlight shone through Allen's lightly parted curtains and shined down across his eyes, causing the teen to wake up. He grumbled and snuggled into...whatever was in his arms. Curious, Allen opened one of his eyes and stared at the material for a very long time, really not comprehending _why. _Allen just happened to be cuddling a pair of sweatpants. Frowning a bit, Allen slowly let go of the random sweat pants and sat up. He grumbled and pulled the comforter away to see that one of his socks was missing. He _hated _that. Going through the trouble of looking for the missing sock and not finding it, Allen decided to just take a different sock and put it on. Yes, the were mismatched and yes, he didn't give a crap. He yawned and paused when he smelled bacon.

Allen _still _didn't know his way around the room that Neah had supposedly had remodeled into his house two years ago. Yesterday he blushed from embarrassment that Neah would go through so much trouble to actually give him a room in the house. He must have had to argue with the landlord a lot about that one. Poking his head out of the doorway, he found Neah at the stove-top making breakfast. Narrowing his eyes, Allen saw that the clock on the oven clearly stated that it was 3:02pm. _Maybe his clock is set wrong? _Allen guessed and sat down in one of the few chairs surrounding Neah's table. There were only a few but Allen was sure his uncle had a few more stored somewhere else.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Neah chirped and then paused. "Or maybe that should be good afternoon. Since when do you sleep in so late?" Neah asked, glancing at the clock on the stove. Allen blinked several times before narrowing his eyes.

"Is it _really _three? I thought your clock was just wrong...so wait, then why are you making breakfast?" Allen asked, glancing down at the delicious-smelling cheese omelets.

"For you, silly. You were exactly waking up so I figured I should make you some brunch." Neah chirped and piled pancakes on a plate, guessing that Allen's large appetite from when he was younger surely would have gotten much worse. After finishing piling the food on the plate, he chuckled seeing Allen drooling and staring at the food. Neah walked over and set the plate in front of the teen and gave him a fork, setting a bottle of syrup beside him. He sat down in a chair next to Allen and watched as the boy devoured every single crumb. "So, how's homeschooling?" Neah asked. "Why don't you want to go to a public school? It _is _your sophomore year after all. You missed out on your freshman year." Neah said with a frown.

"If I went to school then I'd have to deal with _people." _Allen glowered with disgust. Neah chuckled at that and ruffled Allen's white hair.

"Still, Allen, high school is supposed to be fun!" He encouraged.

"It's not exactly fun when you don't _know _anyone." Allen grumbled.

"Nonsense! You know Lavi and Lenalee, don't you?" Neah asked rhetorically and Allen hummed. That's right...Lavi would be in his Senior year this year...Allen blinked a few times before frowning. _Wait a minute...Lavi is three years older than I am, yet he's only two grades above me...oh wait, that's right...I started school early. _Allen scowled at that thought. If he started school when he was supposed to, he probably never would've met Lavi. He could've avoided heartbreak...but then again, if Lavi wasn't there, he probably wouldn't even be here right now.

"Wait, what about Kanda?" Allen asked and Neah shook his head.

"He graduated ahead of Lavi. Apparently he got all his credits out of the way and graduated when he was a Junior." Neah informed. _Ha, he probably couldn't fit anymore information into that small brain of his..._Allen mocked darkly. "Oh yeah, have you checked your phone yet? School for them gets out at 2:50." Neah informed and Allen slowly chewed the last of his pancakes.

"No...? Why does that matter anyways?" He questioned and Neah rested his chin in his hand.

"Well yeah, I did give them your number after all." Allen stared at Neah for a long time before sighing and standing up. He took his plate and rinsed it off before walking into his oddly shaped room. He grabbed the phone on his desk and sweat dropped at the 11 different messages. Ten of them he could tell were from Lavi and one of them seemed to be from Lenalee. Allen tried not to groan when he saw that Lavi had been texting him since seven that morning.

_7:23am - Hey, beansprout, your uncle was kind enough t give us your number so here's mine :P _

_7:48am - This is the part when you text back :l _

_8:34am - Actually now that I think about where DO you go to school at? O.e _

_8:56am - I'm just gonna pretend you shut your phone off or something..._

_9:43am - Oh! I forgot the entire reason he gave me your number! After school is usually when we practice, ya know? Sooo I guess whenever you get this message text me or Lenalee back_

_10:26am - Hm...do you not text during school? Now that I think about it you got back from England yesterday, right? How did you even go to school? Are you transferring in later?_

_10:32am - Maaaan, I'm sooo booored...so you're a Sophomore then? I was Freshman when I was your age xP _

Doesn't he get tired of this?

_10:45am - So anyways, we usually practice in my garage (ya know the one Cross chucked a rock at lol) so you'll probably need to go back to Cross' house to practice with us_

_10:47am - Wait ARE you going to practice with us? We sorta have a competition Friday and we need another song to come up with...kinda short notice. We also need to come up with a name so be thinkin about that before you come over_

_3:01pm - Are you coming to practice or naw? _

The next one was from Lenalee.

_3:07pm - Hey, I heard from Lavi. Sorry that he was being so nosy and texting you all day even though you probably didn't get them at their designated times. Anyways, are you coming to practice? _

Allen made sure to save both of their numbers and texted Lenalee back.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 3:12pm - Sorry about that, I'm still at Neah's and just woke up about ten minutes ago._

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 3:13pm - ...you just woke up? What about school?! _

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 3:14pm - Home-schooled. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 3:16pm - ...oh...but didn't you...oh never mind, anyways, are you coming? You do own a keyboard, right? _

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 3:16pm - Yes and yes. I'll have Neah drive me over. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 3:17pm - Alright, we'll be waiting! _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 3:18pm - Oi! You texted Lenalee back and not me? :'( _

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 3:19pm - I apologize she just seems more sensible. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 3:20pm: *gasp* Oh my aching heart! Must you be so cruel? _

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 3:21pm - You're distracting me. _

Allen shook his head and pocketed his phone. "Can you take me over there?" He asked Neah, who was pouring himself a glass of apple juice..._what a kid..._

"Sure thing! Just start the car and I'll be out there in a few." Neah said, tossing his keys to Allen. Allen caught them and headed out the door, finding it oddly strange that him and Neah got along well despite what happened with Mana. Allen turned the ignition and paused, looking down at his left gloved hand. _Mana..._He got out of the driver's seat and headed over to the passenger's seat, closing the door. The white haired teen massaged his left hand with his right and his jaw tightened. He was so entranced with his thoughts that he didn't hear Neah come in and start blabbering away. The uncle stopped his rant when he didn't hear Allen cooperating. Neah looked over at the strained expression on Allen's face and glanced down to see him absentmindedly massaging his hand. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly, staring at Allen's distant gaze. The boy seemed to have not heard him. Neah placed a comforting hand on Allen's shoulder and inwardly frowned when the younger tensed. Allen looked over and Neah gave him a worried glance "Are you alright? He asked again.

"...yeah..." Allen mumbled and stared out the window. Neah removed his hand and shifted the gears in reverse. He drove to Cross' house and arrived there shortly; none of them said a word during the trip. They both sat in silence for awhile. _How can he already forgive me for what happened? Before he didn't even want to look at me..._Allen remembered. It was back when he was in the hospital and Neah didn't even look at him as he spoke to Allen about seeing if Mana's friend would take him in since he had too much to 'deal with' at the time. Although, Allen really didn't blame him. He knew that often people told him that even if he was adopted, he acted like Mana a lot.

"Well, I'll see you later, Allen. Have fun." Neah chimed and Allen nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door. "Love you." He added and Allen blinked a few times, staring at Neah. That was unexpected. Allen smiled and got out of the car. He heard a faint 'love you too' from the boy before the door closed. Smiling, Neah shifted gears again and drove away. Allen pulled out and looked down at his phone when it vibrated. Lenalee had texted him. Allen was pretty sure he should probably change since he had to wear the same pair of clothes in a row. The fact that he did take a shower didn't really make a difference.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 3:26pm - You comin' or what? Lavi's getting impatient and it's ticking Kanda off. _

Allen stared down at his phone as he started walking towards his house.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 3:27pm - When is Kanda NOT ticked off? And yes I just got home but I really need to change. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 3:28pm - Awesome! So I guess we'll just go over the basics today. I need to convince Lavi that you can't play in the competition *sigh* he just doesn't get it._

Allen was about to type a reply when he bumped into someone, nearly dropping his phone. "Whoa there, lil' guy! I was just lookin' for you." Lavi chirped. Allen mumbled and walked past him. He blanched when he turned the knob.

Locked.

"Uh, yeah, your door is kinda locked." Lavi informed.

"Thank you, Lavi, for telling me that."

"You're welcome~" He laughed and followed Allen into the backyard. "Where ya goin'?" Lavi asked. Allen pointed to the ground right below a window.

"Get down." Lavi blinked several times.

"Huh?"

"On your knees." Allen instructed and Lavi's eye widened in shock and he held his hands up defensively.

"Whoa, there, Allen. I mean, I know that we used to date but isn't this a bit, I dunno, extreme?" Lavi asked. Allen frowned at him.

"Well, I don't know what _you're_ thinking of, but I just wanted to get inside." He informed, pointing to the window above them. Lavi pouted at him.

"And you're gonna use me as a stool?"

"Yep." Allen chirped. Allen, Lavi supposed, was a lot more outgoing than he used to be.

"Fine..." Lavi grumbled and kneeled. "But you owe me for this."

"Whatever you say, Lavi." Allen said in a sing-song voice and opened the window. He pouted at how small it was. It was small even for him. He climbed and got about halfway through...and then he got stuck. "Um...Lavi..."

"What?" Lavi asked, standing up.

"I'm stuck."

Silence.

They were both quiet for a minute until Lavi burst into laughter. "It isn't funny! This is really hurting my pelvis." Allen whined. Lavi walked over, still laughing, and grabbed the bottom of Allen's boots before pushing him. Allen turned his hips sideways and fell through with a strangled cry. The redhead laughed some more, not exactly hearing the loud clatter of kitchenware hitting the floor.

"Seriously? Your _pelvis? _You could always say 'hips' you know. Anyways, you should let me in!" He called.

No answer.

"Allen?" He questioned.

Still no answer.

"Um...you okay in there, buddy?" Lavi asked.

"Uh oh..." He heard Allen mutter and sighed with relief.

"What's up?" Lavi asked, jumping to try and see through the window...it wasn't working out so well...

"N-nothing! I'll be out in a minute. I'm getting changed and then I'll come over." Allen called out and Lavi frowned before shrugging.

"Alright, hurry up!"

Once Allen was sure Lavi was gone, he uncovered his arm, which just happened to knock down the knife holder. Wasn't he just a graceful thing? It probably wouldn't have been too serious if it was his right arm. His left though, was a completely different story. The blood was darker than the rest of his blood. He remembered that Bak, his doctor, specifically told him _never_ to injure it, and if he did, then to call him immediately. _Well it really isn't that bad..._Allen thought, pulling his sleeve back. He walked to the bathroom and stripped his shirt off, checking under the sink for some bandages. He found a kit and opened it. To be safe, Allen didn't put any ointment on it and just wrapped it up. _I'll just text him, he's probably busy and won't see it until later anyways. _Allen shrugged and tied his bandage. He unwrapped the one on his head that Neah had put on after his shower and winced at the swollen bruise.

_I wonder where Cross is...his car is here...maybe he's sleeping..._

Allen threw the bandages away before walking back to the kitchen and putting the knives back. He rolled his shirt up in a ball and threw it in the laundry room before heading to his room to get changed. He dressed into a long-sleeved red and white polo that had a checkered sort of design. Under the polo shirt, he wore a plain white t-shirt. He slipped off his pants and grabbed a pair of jeans. Looking around, he spotted some black converses and threw them on before uncertainly walking next door, slipping on his gloves. _Should I just knock on their front door or the garage...?_ Allen wondered. His thoughts were cut short when he felt himself being dragged away by Lavi.

"Jeez what took ya so long? I've been waiting for, like, forever!" Lavi said and reached down to open up the garage.

"Allen!" Lenalee beamed. "Where have you been? It took you long enough...ouch, that looks like it hurts..." Lenalee winced, staring at the bruise on Allen's head. Allen shrugged. It didn't hurt as bad as when he was first hit.

"Sorry, I got locked out so it took me awhile to get in." Allen informed as he cautiously sat down on one of the bean bag chairs.

"How _did_ you get in?" Lenalee asked.

"The window." Allen replied, observing the garage around him. It was quite cluttered, but everything that he guessed they didn't use was shoved into the corners and there was enough space for another player to put their instrument-which he guessed would be him. There was also a couch and a mini-fridge that was plugged into an extension cord beside it.

"You...climbed through the window? The one in the back or side?" She asked. Allen almost forgot that Lavi had a similar layout to his own house since they lived in a duplex.

"The back." He answered, lightly poking at his arm to make sure it didn't sting if he bumped it somewhere.

"Really? It's so high and small...I can see how you fit through, but how did you get up there?" She asked. Allen paused before answering.

"I used a stool." Lavi fell over at Allen's answer.

"Wow, Allen, you're real kind, aren't ya?" Lavi whined.

"I have a feeling that this stool was a person..." Lenalee muttered, looking between the two. Allen gave her a sheepish smile. He really looked too cute, she just had to forgive him. "Right, so let's get focused here. Does anyone have any ideas for our name yet?" She asked.

Silence.

"Lets just do what Neah was going to do and _no_ complaining. Or fighting for that matter." She said, giving Kanda a dirty look.

"Che, whatever." Kanda grumbled at her look.

"Okay, I say we write down two names each and go with that." She said and the rest agreed. "And please be serious." She added, giving the redhead a dirty look this time. They all started writing down the names on little slips of paper. Lavi glanced over at Allen to see he was writing with his right hand. Daisya looked up as well.

"Eh? I thought you were left handed?" He blurted, causing Allen to mess up on his scribbling. He glared at Lavi.

"I don't have a dominant hand." He simply replied. Daisya snorted at the 'that's what she said' remark that went off in his head.

"That sucks. What if you injure one hand? Then you wouldn't have to do school work." Allen and Lenalee stared at him blankly.

"I'm homeschooled." Allen informed. Lavi blinked a few times.

"What? Wait then why didn't you reply to my messages?" He pouted.

"I overslept."

"Oh..."

After that, they were all silent. They all finished writing and Lenalee threw it in a bowl and shook them around before dumping out on the table. "May the best name win!" She declared and picked one up, giving them all her best poker face. They all passed the names around and eliminated the ones that didn't seem suitable. They were left with three.

"I like this one." Daisya said, holding up a slip of paper. Lenalee took it and narrowed her eyes at it.

"Brightdown?" She read aloud.

"I think it sounds cool." He beamed. "And no I didn't write it so that's not the reason." Daisya added when she opened her mouth.

"...it does sound pretty cool..." She hesitantly agreed.

"That's it then! We are officially Brightdown!" Lavi cheered. "Who wants to celebrate?"

"Lavi!" Lenalee scolded.

"What?" She cleared her throat and gestured to the instruments around her.

"Practice."

"Oh right!" Lavi said as if he had completely forgotten. Lenalee tilted her head towards Allen.

"Since the competition is coming up in a few days, I say we work on our songs and have Allen write lyrics to a new song." Lenalee said with a smug smirk. She heard what Neah was about to say yesterday.

"You're a _genius_, Lena!" Lavi complimented.

"What if it sucks?" Kanda asked.

"It won't." The drummer growled. If Kanda kept up his whole act of Allen sucking there'd be another fight. She thought their band dynamics were bad enough already. She had no idea they'd get even worse when Allen joined. Three years ago, he was always so polite and never fought back whenever Kanda was all pissy...it just goes to show how much people can change over the years...

"Hold on here, what kind of song are you proposing here?" Allen asked quickly.

"Hm...well, Lavi?" Lenalee asked the redhead since he was usually the one who came up with most of their songs. If he didn't like a song that someone came up with then he'd whine until they changed it.

"I'mma say...reckless love perhaps? Definitely something with alcohol." Lavi said with a grin. Allen sweat dropped. He could only imagine how much Lavi liked getting drunk seeing as he used to be so excited about it three years ago.

"Basically breaking the rules?" Lenalee translated.

"Exactly!" The redhead chirped.

"Allen doesn't seem like someone to break rules...maybe you should give him a different topic..." Daisya said. Allen almost snorted at Daisya's comment. Breaking the rules was something Allen did on a regular basis back in England.

"Well let's let him try first." Lenalee said and they all agreed. Allen was handed a notebook and paper. The boy pouted and took the paper and pencil with a frown. Just because he broke rules a lot didn't mean that he knew what he was going to write. He had _no_ idea how he was going to do this. He was not reckless when it came to love and he definitely didn't drink alcohol. He grinded his teeth in frustration and listened to the others as they practiced through certain pieces of the songs. They really didn't sound bad at all-in fact, they sounded amazing.

"Alright, I think you've got that down, Daisya. So what do you guys say to trying the whole song?" She asked and they all agreed with her idea. Kanda just che'd, but that was expected. They all looked over at Allen, who looked like he was trying to devour his own cheek with thought. Lavi chuckled and Lenalee smiled thoughtfully. They were all stirred out of their staring when Allen's phone went off with a tune they couldn't quite place.

"Uh...sorry." Allen smiled sheepishly and ignored the call, sending a quick text to the person. Still, despite his apology, the teen seemed a bit happy by the call.

"Who was that?" Lavi asked.

"A friend." Allen replied shortly, staring at the blank paper with distaste. Why was this so hard for him? Kanda, who wasn't paying attention before, glanced over at the beansprout. The white haired boy bit his lip and then seemed to be struck with a bit of realization. His ees darted over to his phone and he smiled a bit. It was like he was remembering something and, surprisingly enough, he started writing. The others took his dedication to heart and started playing one of their songs. Hearing music had the writer relaxed and he wrote a few more lyrics down before getting stuck again. His phone vibrated and he picked it up.

_Received: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:21pm - Sounds like fun? Isn't Lavi that one guy you used to date? _

Allen almost laughed aloud at Narain's ID. It was a little inside joke between him and he never got around to changing the name.

_Sent: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:24pm - Uh, yeah...anyways, what were you calling for? _

_Received: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:25pm - What, I can't dial up my best friend? xP You won't believe what I did, like, two hours ago._

_Sent: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:26pm - What did you do? Was gambling involved?_

_Received: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:27pm - e.e;; pfft, no, that's your thing. I drank alcohol :3 it wasn't beer, that stuff is disgusting. My sister let me try Jagersomething, but it actually tasted kinda sweet. Sweeter than beer anyways... _

_Sent: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:30pm - Eh? Jager, huh...hmm...I can't believe your sister let you try it though. So she's gotten better then? _

_Received: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:32pm - :) yep! _

_Sent: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:33pm - Well that's good. _

Allen smiled and scribbled at the paper. He didn't drink alcohol so much so Narain's texts actually helped him. The others had ended their song and Allen complimented them before returning to his paper. This piqued Lavi's curiosity and he tried looking at it. He was rewarded with a glare as Allen's pulled the paper against his chest protectively.

"It's not done."

"Oh, come on, sprout, just a peek?" Allen stared at him for awhile, leading him on to think he would be granted permission to see it.

"My name is Allen." Lavi groaned and tugged on the paper.

"Come oooon!" He whined.

"No."

"Pleeeease?"

"Nada."

"Lemme seeee!"

"Nope."

"Whyyy?"

"Not done yet."

"Just a peek?"

"No!" Allen growled and whacked him with his pencil. "Be patient." He scolded.

"Ya know...Allen has changed a lot, huh?" Daisya commented to Lenalee, who nodded.

"He seemed to be more...soft perhaps?" She offered and Daisya nodded.

"Yeah, he seems even more casual than before. I wonder why he's changed so much..." The brunette mumbled. Just then, Allen's phone rang again. Allen and Lavi both exchanged serious looks for five minutes and Lavi quickly reached for the device. Allen scowled and tried reaching for it but Lavi held it out of his reach teasingly, reading the Caller ID.

"Narain? Who's that?" Lavi asked with a sly grin, ignoring 'the Idiotic Brit' part.

"None of your business. Give me my phone back!" Allen snapped and reached for it. His facial expression was one of horror when Lavi answered it.

"Hello?" Lavi greeted.

"...who is this? You're not Allen." Narain said, his voice thick with a British accent.

"That I am not! I am the great Lavi!"

"You mean the asshole-who-broke-Allen's-heart Lavi?" Narain smugly asked.

"Eh...how in the hell did y-OW!" Lavi let out a cry and dropped the phone into Allen's eager hands."Y-you just kicked me!"

"Hello? Ah, yes, sorry about that." Allen looked at Lenalee and she nodded. He shoved the paper in Lavi's hands to get him to shut up and left the garage to talk to Narain. Lavi beamed down at the paper with a grin and kicked it back on the couch to read it. He paused and the others waited for his reaction.

"This...is actually pretty good." He stated and sat up to get a good look at it.

"Let us see it!" Lenalee chirped and walked over. Lavi gave her the paper and she skimmed it over.

**Six Feet Under The Stars:**

**Time to lay claim to the evidence**  
**Fingerprints sold me out**  
**But our footprints washed away**  
**From the docks downtown**  
**It's been getting late for days**  
**And I think myself deserving of a little time off**

**We can kick it here for hours**  
**And just mouth off about the world**  
**And how we know it's going straight to hell **  
**Pass me another bottle, honey**  
**The Jager's so sweet**  
**But if it keeps you around, then I'm down**

**Meet me on Thames Street**  
**I'll take you out**  
**Though I'm hardly worth your time**  
**In the cold, you look so fierce**  
**But I'm warm enough**  
**Because the tension's like a fire**

**We'll hit South Broadway in a matter of minutes**  
**And like a bad movie, I'll drop a line**  
**Fall in the grave I've been digging myself**  
**But there's room for two**  
**Six feet under the stars**

It stopped there and Lenalee frowned. "He didn't finish it." She said, passing it to Daisya. Daisya skimmed over it and raised his eyebrows, pretty impressed with the words on the page.

"It actually sounds like something Lavi would sing." He commented. "Wait, how does he know what Jager tastes like?" Daisya asked.

"Who cares, this song is a riot." Lavi chirped happily. "Now he just needs to finish it! It seems like he's already got a melody in his head by the way he spaced it out, ya know?" Daisya nodded in agreement to Lavi's words. "I'm gonna go get him!" Lavi said with a grin and ducked under the garage door. He looked up to see Allen sitting on the back of Cross' car (something he'd get murdered for if Cross was actually out there). Lavi neared him and stopped walking when he heard the Narain guy say his name.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know...but you really don't have any right to talk about him like that since you're kinda the same." Allen muttered. He rolled his eyes at Narain's words. "Like that really matters, you still did the same thing he did." Allen paused when his phone vibrated in his hand. "Uh, hold on a minute, I'm getting another call." Allen said and pulled his phone back to look at the call. He scowled at the ID. "Hey, I'll call you back later, kay?" Allen asked. "Yeah, yeah, talk to you later." Allen hung up and pressed a few buttons before holding the phone to his ear again. "Hello?"

"ALLEN WALKER WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT HURTING YOUR ARM DAMMIT?!" Allen held the phone faraway from his ear and winced.

"Um, ow. Any more loud shouting from you and _you'll _hurt my eardrums." Allen grumbled. "And besides, it wasn't even that bad; just a small cut..."

"A SMALL CUT? A _SMALL _CUT? DO YOU _WANT _TO HAVE SURGERY?!"

"No! Now quit yelling so loud!" Allen snapped.

Lavi couldn't hear anything the person on the other side of the phone said but it seemed that Allen was scheduling an appointment for some reason. As soon as he hung up, Lavi walked over stealthily. He noticed Allen texting and placing his hand as if he was getting ready to hop off the car. Lavi tip-toed over and grabbed Allen's sides whilst shouting to scare him. Allen let out a yelp and fell off the car. Lavi laughed at the boy who was sprawled out on the driveway while Allen glared at him.

"That was amazing! Hahaha, looks like you're ticklish~!" Lavi said with a mischievous grin.

"Looks like you're a twat." Allen growled and picked himself off the ground, dusting himself off.

"I'm not a twat, Yuu is the twat, remember?" Lavi asked, chuckling at the memory.

"What did you do that for?" Allen asked accusingly.

"Cause it was funny? Anyways, we need you to come in and finish the song!" Lavi said, rocking back and forth on his heels excitedly.

"You do realize it takes a lot more work than that to finish a song right?" Allen asked, walking over to him and pocketing his phone in his back pocket. It was a habit he had since he knew that no one would dare try and snatch it away there.

"Well let's break a world record and finish it tonight!" Lavi chimed.

"Sure, Lavi, whatever you say." Allen grumbled, not really finding the effort to argue with the talkative redhead. He and Lavi both went inside the garage and Allen received many compliments for the lyrics he'd written so far. He sat down on the couch and put the pencil to the paper, thinking about his next words. His phone vibrated and he picked it up.

_Received: Narain the Idiotic Brit, 4:53pm - Sounds difficult. Well, I'll call you later then! Good luck on that song, love you! _

Allen paused, staring at the last two words that was sent. _That's a terrible habit you have there, Narain. _Allen thought with a sigh.

"Ehh, is Narain your boyfriend?" Lavi asked, looking over Allen's shoulder at the message. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over. Allen could feel his face heat up at Lavi question and resisted the urge to cover his face.

_You asshole. _

* * *

**The lyrics used in Allen's song is 'Six Feet Under The Stars by All Time Low' Don't forget to guess the chapter title's author! No one has guessed on any of them so far *sweat drop* It took me forever to come up with this title and in my opinion I don't really think it goes well with the chapter but I had nothing else to use so...yeah...**


	6. Shut Up

**About the band name, if none of you get it, Brightdown is the name of the 2nd opening in the DGM anime. I apologize if you don't watch the anime but I really couldn't find a catchy name that hasn't already been used in another band fic. Anyways, if you guessed for any of the titles please go to my profile for info. On another note, I'd like to thank all my reviewers: Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (wow you really know your stuff xD), OtakuShipping, InsanityOwl, VeridianSoul, Random Person, Nora678, Sora Arashitori, ScytheMeisterA, Usagi-Twins, and Assassinationexpert-foxtamer for reviewing! The band name was chosen, but you can still suggest Band Names/Songs for use in the future! **

* * *

The next day, Lavi wouldn't stop pestering Allen about Narain. Honestly, Allen really wanted to kill the two of them; Narain because of what he texted and Lavi because...well, he just wouldn't _shut up _about it. He bugged Allen even when the boy took time out of his day to walk to the school because Lavi _begged _him to walk with them to his house after school. Yet when he got there, Lavi started bugging him about Narain again. He remembered that Lenalee even took him aside to ask him to just fess up already because he was distracting Lavi from practice. Except he _wasn't _Narain's boyfriend and most likely never would be...again. Once they were finally just a few feet away from the garage and Lavi had actually shut up for five minutes, the idiot just had to open his mouth again when Allen started texting his doctor back.

"Who ya textin', your _boyfriend?" _Lavi teased. Allen spun on his heel to glare at the ever-so-annoying redhead.

"For the last time, he's _not _my boyfriend!" Allen snapped. The four in front of him deadpanned when a random stranger came up and slung his arm around the teen like he knew him for forever.

"Right. I'm his _ex_-boyfriend." The brunette corrected.

"Yeah, it's just as he said, Narain is my...wait...what?" Allen blinked and looked up. He almost shouted when he saw Narain standing there in all his glory. But only almost. Narain tended to pop up whenever he wanted to often when Allen lived in England. "What the _hell _are you doing here?" Allen asked bluntly. You would think that a regular person would be excited to see their best friend, but Allen was a bit different...then again, Narain _was _his ex.

"Feelin' the love, Al, feelin' the love." Narain said humorously whilst patting Allen's shoulder. Allen glared down at the hand and refrained from biting it. "Anyways, I came to visit!" Narain chirped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, _this _is your boyfriend?" Lavi asked, gesturing to Narain. Honestly, Lavi expected someone more...what was the word? Big? Well someone that was bigger than Allen, but this guy was even smaller than himself!

"He isn't my boyfriend, Lavi!" Allen growled.

"Allen just wishes I was." Narain said. Allen gave him an odd look.

"Actually it's the other way around."

"Too true...so what do you say?" Narain asked, pulling Allen closer to him; which only seemed to irritate the younger even more. The faces in front of them were completely blank. Neither of them knew how to even _react _to what was going. Narain _seriously _just asked him out...in front of them...and Allen wasn't even blushing.

"My answer is the same for the past five times you asked. No." He said flatly, but didn't push Narain away. Narain pouted at the answer.

"Harsh." He commented.

"Hardly." Allen drawled. There was a short silence until Narain had observed what Allen was wearing (or in Lavi's case, checked him out).

"By the way, what are you wearing?" He asked, stifling his laughter.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Allen asked with a frown and looked down at his clothes. They _seemed _normal.

"Since when do you wear _that?" _Narain asked, observing (checking out) what Lavi and Kanda were wearing me as well. Kanda shivered under his gaze.

"Faggot don't do that shit to me. You just be gay with beansprout over there." He growled and scowled at him. Not that Kanda ever stopped scowling to begin with. Narain raised his eyebrows.

"You have an interesting choice in friends." He said, looking down at Allen.

"Um, you do realize that you're in that zone too, right?" Allen asked nonchalantly, picking at his nails.

"Ouch, friendzoned already?" Narain asked.

"You've been stuck there for awhile." Allen replied casually.

"Wow, you're harsh." Narain said with a frown. "I thought I was in the 'friends with benefits' zone." He said, watching Allen amusingly as he blinked several times.

"I didn't realize I _had _that zone..." Allen grumbled. Narain laughed.

"Of course because the spot is saved for me." He chirped.

"Wait, so you've had _sex?" _Lavi asked bluntly and that time Allen really did blush.

"Wh-why would you ask that?!" Allen all but shouted.

"Well that's what a FWB relationship is right?" Lavi asked and Lenalee felt herself face palming at his question.

"Of course _you'd _know all about that, wouldn't you?" Narain asked with a sly smirk. Lavi narrowed his eyes at Narain.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" He glowered. Allen let out a sigh. Narain did this to every person that had liked him. Sometimes there were even times where a guy had liked Allen, but never really asked him out and Narain would _still _be an asshole to him. Narain was quite a nice guy, but ever since his sister grew sick, he's become more possessive, protective, and even jealous.

"Stop being an arse, Narain." Allen said flat out.

"I'm not being an arse. I'm just kidding." Narain's expression completely contradicted his words. Everyone could tell that Narain was giving him the evil eye.

"Chill your ass out. There are no relationships allowed in the band so don't get so fucking defensive." Kanda growled. Narain found himself scowling right back at Kanda.

"It isn't worth it, Narain." Allen said, patting his shoulder. Lenalee shook her head and sighed. It seemed like Allen joining their band would create drama no matter what she did. It didn't matter now, she supposed, because now they didn't have to look for a keyboardist and that solved a lot of their problems.

"Anyways, do you mind chilling out at Allen's or something? We have practice." Lenalee said, gesturing to Lavi's garage.

"Can I watch?" Narain asked, despite that he didn't really watch people play even if he did like music. The only person he ever enjoyed watching play was Allen because he was so expressive.

"Sure, why not?" Lenalee said before Lavi could open his mouth and decline. Doing so would cause Allen problems that he did not have time for.

"Thanks. Oh! Before that, I have something to give...er, return to you." Narain said and finally withdrew from Allen. He reached in his pocket and Allen held out his hand. Narain placed it in his hands with a smile while the other band members headed for Lavi's garage. Once he drew away, Allen stared at the small locket in shock. Carefully, as if the wrong move could shatter the silver piece, Allen opened up the locket and almost cried when he saw the same picture of him, Mana, and Neah there.

"How...where did you...but..." Allen stumbled over his words, having no idea what to say. He smiled and closed his fingers around the locket before hugging Narain. "Thank you, Narain." Narain didn't hesitate to hug him back.

"No problem. You left it at my house and I knew it must be important to you since...Mana..." Narain trailed off, not wanting to bring bad memories back to the boy. Allen pulled away and gave Narain a sad smile before hooking the pendant around his neck.

"...yeah..."

"Oi, you done being faggots or what?!" Kanda called from the garage.

"Shut up, Jerkanda!" Allen growled.

"What did you call me?!" Kanda shouted back.

"Sorry, keep forgetting you're insanely stupid and can't comprehend human speech half the time!" Allen called back. Narain couldn't help but laugh at the insults the two spat at each other.

"You two act like an old married couple." Narain said with a snort. "Right, so we should probably go."

"Yeah, come on." Allen said and started walking away. Narain followed after him.

"So please tell me you don't wear those kinds of clothes everyday..." Narain grumbled, almost horrified at the thought.

"Yeah, what about it?" Allen asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Oh, I dunno, you just used to wear...better clothes." Narain said slowly, cautiously stepping over the landmines. Allen ducked under the garage door along with Narain.

"...oh! I see...yeah, well, when Cross saw what I was wearing he wouldn't shut up about the gayness infused with my clothes or something so I quit that. I mean, he bugs me enough, I don't need more problems on top of that...did you know he tried jacking my wallet once? That bastard..." Allen grumbled as he sat down on the couch. The others pretended not to be interested in their conversation and tuned each of their instruments when in reality, each of them were listening to what they were talking about.

"...gayness infused with your clothes? How does that even...?" Narain didn't even know whether he should ask or not.

"No idea." Allen replied.

"Yo, Allen, you done with that song yet?" Lavi chirped over the random noises of the instruments.

"I started on it yesterday, what do _you _think?" Allen asked rhetorically. _  
_

"But we have a competition tomorrow~!" Lavi whined. Narain stared at them for a long time. _Do they normally put songs off like this a day before the competition? Isn't that short notice? _He wondered and sat on the couch next to Allen.

"Well then maybe you should've thought about that a few weeks _before _the competition." Allen grumbled. Narain placed his chin in his hand and stared at Allen. Why didn't he just give them the song he wrote back at their old school in England? Did he not want them to know about it? Narain thought it was quite a great song...then again the song was old...and about Lavi...

"Hm." Narain hummed, understanding it now. It was quite amusing; especially when Allen shot him a glare.

"I feel like I missed something here." Lenalee said, staring at the two of them.

"Well if you weren't there then of course you'd miss something." Narain chirped.

"Well then what _did _we miss?" Daisya asked curiously. The two of them were silent. Lenalee shook her head at them.

"Whatever, we need to practice. Allen, as soon as you finish writing it all out we need to start practicing it." Lenalee said and Allen nodded his head. Narain leaned over to whisper in Allen's ear.

"Wouldn't it just be easier if you gave them that one song you wrote?" He asked.

"No." Allen growled.

"But then what if you don't finish this one?"

"I'll finish it." He said determinedly.

"Yeah but what if you _don't?" _

"I will."

"Whatever you say, Al, I'm just trying to help." Narain said in a regular tone, loud enough for them all to hear. Allen sneered at him and looked down at his lyrics. Narain leaned over his shoulder to check out the lyrics and was met with a shoulder to his cheek. "Ow..." He grumbled, rubbing his cheek. "Sheesh I was just trying to take a look."

"It's not finished." Allen said simply and wrote down another lyric or two.

"Ugh, I hate it when you do that." Narain groaned and sunk into the couch. Lavi paused in tuning his guitar and looked up.

"Wait, does that mean he's written a song before?" Lavi asked. The question caught the attention of the rest of the band. Allen looked over at Narain.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" He asked and Narain grinned back.

"Plenty of times, darling." Narain said and Allen scowled at the nickname.

"So wait, if you _have _a song, why are you writing a _new _one?" Lenalee asked. "Wouldn't it just be easier if we looked at the other one?" She asked.

"No..." Allen said a bit too quickly and figured that he should explain. "It's just that there's a keyboard melody in there too and not to mention that it doesn't fit Lavi's requirements for it. It's more slow-ish."

"So wait...you have it _all _written. Like the parts?" Lavi asked, letting his guitar hang from his neck.

"Well yes, but...it's more...well, uh...it's acoustic; and there's only one guitar part...and it's..."

"A duet." Narain added. Allen nodded.

"Hmm well something is better than nothing." Lavi remarked. "What are all the instruments?"

"Um...well there's guitar, piano, vocal, drums, and...I think violin?" Narain asked, looking at Allen curiously.

"Well yeah, but that doesn't come in until later." Allen said with a nod.

"...violin?" Lavi asked.

"Violin." Narain confirmed.

"Well I don't know anything about playing violin..." Lavi muttered.

"Oh, I do! Pops taught Kanda and I when we were younger. He said it was a graceful instrument...except we only have one...because Kanda smashed his when he turned...eight?" Daisya guessed. Narain and Allen both winced at the thought of the poor violin being smashed by a miniature Kanda.

"Uhuh, so if we _did _play this, Daisya would be violin, Lenalee on drums, Kanda on guitar, you could play piano and...I guess I could sing...though I really like playing..." Lavi grumbled.

"Well it's not like we _are _playing it..." Allen added.

"Not to mention it's a _duet." _Narain reminded. He paused for a minute. Lavi crossed his arms.

"Hmm...a duet, huh? Well, hold on, Allen's good at singing, isn't he?" Lavi asked. Narain snorted.

"Good doesn't even cut it. Allen's an _amazing _singer." The brunette said with a grin. Allen lightly blushed at the compliment.

"Really? I haven't heard him sing..." Lavi mumbled and they both looked over at him.

"...what?" He asked.

"Well if it's a duet then couldn't you just sing it with me?" Lavi asked. Allen opened his mouth but closed it. He _could _but it'd be bad considering who the song was dedicated to. He opened his mouth and closed it again before swiveling his head away, blushing.

"Definitely _not." _He muttered.

"Why do I feel like there's a story behind this song?" Lenalee asked no one in particular.

"Because there probably is." Daisya piped in.

"I have a feeling it deals with me..." Lavi grumbled.

"It isn't a bad song." Narain said, frowning at Lavi.

"This is so gay, I am _not _playing the song." Kanda snapped.

"Don't be such a twat." Narain growled. Lavi and Daisya both started laughing as the eldest of them _fumed _at Narain's words.

"If someone calls me that _one _more time, I'm gonna break someone's face." Kanda threatened.

"You know, Allen, it'd be easier if you just gave us the song..." Lenalee reasoned. "If you do then you can preform tomorrow after all!" She said with a smile.

"Eh..." Allen muttered, looking anywhere but his friends. "I mean...I guess it couldn't hurt...I just...haven't really preformed in awhile..." He said thoughtfully.

"Come oooooon!" Lavi said, bouncing with excitement.

"But if the song is a duet, wouldn't it look weird if you weren't playing an instrument and Allen was? Like, he'll be at the piano and you'll be somewhere else." Narain said, picturing the scene in his head.

"Hmm...you do have a good point." Lavi admitted.

"I'm not fucking playing acoustic so you play the damn song." Kanda snapped. "I'm playing the previous songs so that's fine, isn't it? Besides, the beansprout isn't playing any of the songs before that one."

"Kanda has a good point." Daisya said convincingly.

"That's it then. After practicing our other songs, we'll practice the last one. How's that?" Lenalee asked.

"Where's the competition at?" Allen asked, knowing that the last question was rhetorical since he found out that Lenalee was like the manager around here.

"It's probably an hour away, why?" She asked. Allen shrugged.

"Just curious." He replied.

"Okay. Well, for now, I guess you can just sit back and relax, Allen. There's a mini-fridge there if you're thirsty." She said with a kind smile. Allen smiled back and nodded. The four started their song and Allen grabbed a soda can from the mini-fridge, sipping it.

"Um, Allen, I should probably mention that I'm leaving tonight." Narain said with a frown. Allen frowned back at him; sure, Narain could be troublesome to deal with at times, but he didn't want his best friend to leave so soon. "Since we have so many bills we don't exactly have enough money for me to stay here and I'm sure that Cross is going to have you working hard with debts." Allen automatically sulked hearing the 'd' word.

"Meh. He's probably left for a month to pile them up." Allen guessed, spinning the contents inside the can. "Maybe even longer." He grumbled. Narain laughed and patted his back.

"There, there, maybe he got drunk and died in a ditch." He joked.

"Maybe..." Allen muttered a little seriously, which kind of scared Narain a bit.

"You know, I have to admit, they sound good." Narain said, gesturing to the three in front of them.

"Yeah..."

"Sucks you didn't join them sooner, huh?" Narain asked.

"Well in the past it was either date Lavi or join and I chose the latter." Allen said, still working on the lyrics of the new song.

"Yeah it probably would've been awkward if you chose the band, huh?" Narain asked and Allen nodded. His phone went off and Allen looked at the Caller ID.

"I need to answer this." He replied and took the paper with him as he walked out of the garage, trying not to disturb the other band mates. "Hello?"

"Hey, Allen. About the appointment, can we make it tomorrow? You see, if you wait too long-" Bak's voice resonated through the device.

"I can't tomorrow, I'm going somewhere." Allen interrupted.

"Oh...where are you going?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Um, a few friends and I are performing...like an hour away..." Allen said.

"Oh..." Bak muttered, cursing a bit.

"Is something wrong with that? I'd rather not skip out on this if you know what I mean. I'm required to be there..."

"No, no, not at all. Just...ugh...how do I say this? Your arm is quite peculiar you see...I'm not sure whether it's a chemical or what, but it's alternated a few things inside of you and if your arm is injured, the balance in your body will be thrown off. Telling from your explanation, it's not going to be _as _serious, but you might get dizzy and have a fever or something. I can't really tell you what at the moment, you'll just have to find out if the effects come through tomorrow. It's not something a little rest won't fix though. Just be careful, alright? You _can't _injure it any further."

"Okay, well, thanks for warning me." Allen paused. "I won't injure it this time."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks again...bye..."

"I'll see you later, Allen." Bak said and hung up. Allen pocketed his phone and ducked under the door. He looked ahead and saw Lenalee, Lavi, Kanda, and Daisya all giving him expectant looks with the 'where have you been' stare on their faces. He bumped his head on the door.

"Ow...uh, sorry about that...it was kinda important..." Allen apologized and walked in the garage, sitting on the couch.

"How important?" Kanda asked quite rudely.

"Ehhh..." Allen seemed to be measuring the importance of the call on a scale in his head. It was an important call...but Bak was only warning him... "It was just an appointment thing I have." Allen said, dismissing them. "He wanted the appointment to be tomorrow but I simply said I couldn't so...yeah..." Allen said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's the appointment about?" Lavi asked and Allen had to consider whether or not to tell them.

"Uh, a check-up." He replied. It wasn't really a lie since Bak was checking up on his arm.

"Like, a doctor check-up?" Daisya asked and Allen nodded.

"I smell a secret~" Lenalee sang and spun her chair away from the drum-set.

"You do?" Allen deadpanned.

"Lenalee's sixth sense of sensing secrets is never wrong." Lavi informed with a fake professional air around him.

"...right." Allen said uncertainly.

"So what's the secret~ why do you have to go to the doctor's?" She asked. Daisya noted how Narain was staring at Allen with a blank face.

"Well I wouldn't really consider it a secret..." Allen mumbled. "...and I'm not really sure if you want to see it..."

"See what?" Lavi asked and plopped himself in between Narain and Allen; to which he received a glare from Narain for. Allen stared at Lavi for a long time.

"Erm...well remember when I told you...er...wrote you...uh, that I had an injury I was hospitalized for?" Allen asked. Lavi's eyes widened when he remembered the note that Allen left him.

"Oh...yeah...that..." Lavi said sheepishly.

"Wrote? You wrote to Lavi? When?" Lenalee asked, frowning. Lavi never told her that Allen wrote to him.

"It was just a note, chill." Lavi said. "Anyways, are you gonna show us?!" Lavi asked excitedly. Allen's eyebrow twitched. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the door that connected to the house flung open and hit the wall.

"OH LENLAEE AND FRIENDS~ I HAVE COOKIES~!" A man in a white lab coat chirped. Allen tilted his head at the man.

"Is that Komui?" He asked curiously. The man in front of him had shoulder-length, dark, purple hair and squared glasses that settled on his nose. The last time he saw Komui he had long hair that was kept in a ponytail and he didn't even _wear _lab coats...Komui cut his little excitement action and went serious on them all, staring at Allen as if he were trying to figure him out. Narain snorted at Allen's question._  
_

"And here I thought something about the cookies would be coming out of your mouth." He said humorously. Komui walked across the room with a plate of cookies in his hand before bending down to get _really _close to Allen's face.

"Uh...hi?"

"I've seen you somewhere before." Komui stated, getting closer.

"Komui! Leave Allen alone!" Lenalee scolded and Komui drew back.

"Allen? As in Lavi's-boyfriend-that-never-stopped-blushing-Allen?" Allen opened his mouth to retort but then closed it, realizing that he really did never stop blushing in the past. "But he looks different..." Komui whined, hating himself for not being able to recognize him by himself. Lenalee blinked a few times.

"You know, I never really thought about that. Or well, I did, but I forgot." Lenalee said, looking over at him. "I actually didn't even recognize you at first...actually, I'm pretty sure no one did."

"Feeling the love, guys." Allen said sarcastically.

"Well you really _do _look different..." Daisya reasonably mumbled.

"So what about these cookies?" Allen asked, his mouth starting to water. Narain chuckled and Komui placed the cookies on the coffee table in front of Allen.

"So what are you doing here, Allen? Didn't you, uh...leave...?" Komui asked, trying his best not to bring up bad memories between them all.

"I moved to England to study abroad for 3 years-" Allen started to explain but Narain cut him off.

"-and you ended up getting homeschooled anyways-"

"And came back a few days ago." Allen finished, glaring at Narain.

"What were you studying in England?" Komui asked.

"...music?" He replied uncertainly.

"Oh, that's cool, so wait then are you and Lavi dating again?" He asked.

"No..."

"Oh...damn..." He muttered and they all gave him bizarre stares. "...right, so, anyways, I'm just gonna go talk to Bookman now, bye~!" Komui chirped and fled the room.

"...weirdo..." Narain mumbled and the rest of the room agreed.

"He is, but he brought us cookies." Allen said brightly and took one. Everyone sweat dropped.

"We should be practicing..." Lenalee reminded them.

"But...cookies..." Allen reasoned, gesturing to the pile of cookies on the plate.

"I agree. Cookie break! Hey, beansprout, pass me a can!" Lavi said and received a glare.

"My name is Allen." Despite the glare, the white-haired teen handed him a soda anyways. Lenalee sighed and sat down with the rest of them, realizing that they had all the time in the world to practice.

...or did they?


	7. Our Time Now

**This chapter is probably mostly long because of the lyrics to the songs they sing. I didn't really get any suggestions for the songs they _do _sing so I had to come up with some last minute. I did change the title of the second song they sing but I'll make sure to credit the actual song in the next AN! And if some of the lyrics are wrong, I apologize. I was looking up on YouTube first to see if I got the lyrics to the third song right and they kept on replacing where 'best' should be with 'rest' AND I KNOW MY EARS AREN'T DECEIVING ME! Dx Anyways...I'd like to thank FallenxLinkin (actually, no, that wasn't the song but that's a _really _good idea o.o I might just use that ^^), Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (I'm gonna need to memorize your user, huh?), and InsanityOwl (I actually do listen to them o.o) for reviewing! **

* * *

You would think that Allen would be excited about today. Today was the day that he'd finally get to play alongside Lavi and the others. He'd wanted it for so long, especially when he was dating Lavi three years ago. Yes, this should be the greatest day of his life. Or well...close to the greatest day. The greatest day would probably be when Mana adopted him. Still, today should be exciting for him. He should inwardly be jumping up and down with excitement. He knew it was going to be fun, especially the ride there as they would all jokingly sing together and hang out and perhaps even stop by a restaurant for food.

Then again, Allen did _not _enjoy being woken up at _five o' clock _in the morning.

Not to mention that _someone _had hid all of his new clothes before leaving back to England. Allen seriously couldn't find any of the clothes he bought to keep Cross from insulting the way he dressed. He texted and called Narain several times but he didn't answer. As it turned out, since England was eight hours ahead, Narain was probably at school and wasn't getting any of his calls anyways. He felt defeated and dressed into some of the old clothes he used to wear. He put on some black skinny jeans and a t-shirt that read 'I'm not antisocial I just don't like you_' _and a black and white striped hoodie, complete with a pair of gloves. _I'm going to kill Narain the next time I see him. _Allen thought as he laced up his boots. Lavi opened his mouth to comment on his clothes but Allen gave him a death glare with the threatening voice of "One word about my clothes and I'll kill you."

Lavi didn't talk for the longest time.

"Ugh, doesn't this thing start at eight?" Allen asked groggily, breaking the silence and he rubbing his eye.

"Yep! But we need to set up first." She smiled apologetically at Allen. "That'll probably take an hour to do and then we have to tune and go over _all _our songs...the last one preferably..." She grumbled bitterly from the passenger seat. Yesterday everyone was preoccupied doing something and they didn't even get to _look _at the song Allen wrote.

This was really bad.

"Well, I just hope you guys are good at sight reading..." Allen grumbled, receiving a playful punch from Daisya.

"Oh please, we're _amazing _at playing! Give us s'more credit, Allen." Daisya said with a grin.

"Sight reading is completely different from playing a song you already know." Allen informed with a scowl.

"Of course it is, but that doesn't mean we completely suck at it." Lavi replied. Allen yawned and laid his head on the side of the van. In his opinion, the van was _really _creepy because it didn't have any windows. Of course _Lavi _would own something like this.

"Remind me next time to bring a pillow." He grumbled, closing his eyes. Kanda, being the jerk that he was, slammed on the brakes, causing Allen to hit his head. He let out a string of curses under his breath and Lavi chuckled. "I really hate you, Kanda." Allen said grumpily.

"The feelings are mutual, beansprout." Kanda replied smugly.

"My name is Allen." He snapped.

"Che, do I look like I care?" The eldest rhetorically asked.

"I'd be surprised if you _did _care about something _other _than your guitar." Allen growled back.

"Guys, can we _please _not fight? Today is a special day!" Lenalee scolded.

"Well maybe if someone didn't _jump _on people to wake them up, I'd be in a better mood." Allen grumbled, glaring at Lavi, who just shrugged him off.

"Well you wouldn't wake up any other way..." Lavi said nonchalantly.

"Did you even _try _any other way?" Allen asked and Lavi stayed silent. "Not only that you _broke into my house!" _

"I couldn't help that your door was locked!" Lavi said, flailing his arms around. Allen sighed and laid his head against the back of Kanda's seat. It was the only thing comfortable enough to lay on.

"If need be, you can lay on me Allen~" Lavi sang.

"I'd rather lay on Kanda." Allen countered.

"Ooh burn." Daisya laughed.

"Screw off, Daisya..." Lavi grumbled. "I was just playin', Allen~!" Lavi whined and laid on Allen. Surprisingly enough, Allen didn't push him away.

"...don't care...tired..." He muttered, yawning. Lavi yawned too.

"Me too..." He mumbled and closed his eyes. Allen didn't even care that Lavi was laying on him. He was tired and it wasn't as if they had feelings for each other anyways.

"I feel so left out." Daisya said and crawled over to lay on Allen's other shoulder. Lenalee giggled at the three of them.

"Faggots." Kanda grumbled.

"Hey, at least they shut up, right?" She said jokingly and Kanda nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.

The drive was long and soon enough Lenalee found herself moving the seat back to go to sleep as well. It was quite peaceful and Kanda actually enjoyed a ride with them all for once. It was so much easier to deal with them when they were sleeping. Still, it was a bit too quiet so he slipped Lenalee's iPod cord into the car and let it play soothing music. Sure, it was a bit too lovey-dovey for his taste, but it was soft enough to keep them all asleep for the entire ride. The long-haired teen felt much more relaxed now. He drove into the parking lot and felt his eye twitch.

Now the only problem was waking them all up.

"Oi, wake up." He grumbled, shaking Lenalee awake. She yawned and opened her eyes, looking around.

"Hnn...are we here?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Why else would I be waking you up?" Kanda asked in a low growl. Lenalee just laughed and unbuckled her seat-belt before climbing in the back to wake them up. She paused and smirked before she took out her camera. "What the hell are you doing?!" Kanda hissed, but was quickly shushed by her as she resumed clicking. She hummed and woke Daisya up.

"Eh...wha?" He asked and Lenalee gestured to the building before them. There wasn't a lot of people in the parking lot since it was six in the morning. "We're here? Woo! I'm outta this thing. I think my butt is numb..." He said, rubbing his bottom. He opened the back doors and climbed out. Lenalee watched him jump out and turned to the two in front of her to wake them up. She paused and smirked when she noticed that they were cuddling with each other. _What a great opportunity for blackmail~ _

Lenalee wasn't evil. Not at all.

"Lavi~ time to wake up~!" She said in a sing-song voice, shaking him awake.

"Mm...five more minutes..." He whined and cuddled with Allen some more. He saw a flash through his closed eyes and heard a click and jumped away from Allen. "Awe, shit, Lena, so not cool..." He grumbled. Lenalee simply laughed and stored her camera in it's case.

"Time to go!" She chirped happily. They weren't there to win, they were there to have fun. She was going to make sure to get a _lot _of pictures with other bands. It was great for advertisement. "Allen, it's time to wake up." She said and gently shook his shoulder. Allen opened his eyes and looked around. He stretched and yawned before climbing out of the van, completely forgetting about the clothes he was wearing.

"Can I ask what happened to your wardrobe?" Lenalee asked, chuckling at the shirt he was wearing. Allen opened his mouth but closed it and shook his head.

"No. You can't." He said. "Anyways, where are we supposed to go for this? And are we just going to carry our instruments in? I was not informed of anything..." Allen added, changing the topic.

"Oh, we have to move our instruments in there, which is why we had to go in there early. Come on, let's get started." Lenalee cheered and they all started moving things. Lavi, Daisya, and Kanda could all easily bring in their guitars (and Daisya's violin too) but it took awhile to get the keyboard and drum-set in there. Luckily, they got done early and could practice in their own room. Lenalee stared at Allen's clothing for a long time before grinning. "You know what we should do? We should get custom shirts. You know, like, design our own." She said.

"That's not a bad idea, Lena..." Lavi agreed and nodded. He looked over at Allen and snorted.

"Maybe we should get Allen to design our clothes." He laughed when Allen dropped the keyboard stand on his foot. Allen sent Lavi an 'I hate you' glare. Lavi just beamed at him.

"Great! We should do it after we're done here! We're like the fifth ones playing so we should have enough time to go shopping afterwards." Lenalee smiled. They were finally progressing. "Now everyone remember, we're not here to win, we're here to have fun!"

"Please tell me you're not going to give us a pep-talk. It's like six in the morning." Daisya complained.

"Well then chin up, guys!" Honestly, Lenalee wanted to jump up and down in excitement. They were _professionally _playing somewhere! It was exciting! She didn't understand why no one else was excited. Then she hummed. "After we're done we can get lunch at McDonalds."

"Really?" Allen chirped, already feeling his mouth start to water. Lenalee giggled and nodded.

"Definitely!"

"...Allen...how are you _not _fat?" Daisya asked and Allen simply shrugged.

They finally finished setting up and started practicing. They finished practicing their first two songs and Allen gave them all (except Kanda) the parts for his song. Lavi hummed the melody and nodded. They all started practicing their parts instead of sight reading and, in Allen's opinion, it was terrible...but that's only because they weren't playing together. If he listened to them separately, they were really good at this. Allen didn't necessarily need to practice since he learned the whole thing by heart...he _did _write it after all. Lenalee squinted her eyes to read the lyrics and couldn't help but let out a dignified squeal, causing more than just a few wrong notes to be played in the room.

"Shit, Lena, what the hell?" Lavi asked, grumbling that he messed up. He was on a roll too...

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't contain myself. Think about it, Lavi. Allen basically wrote this song _after _you guys broke up, right? Oh my god, I just can't even..." Allen blushed deeply at her words and looked away, mumbling something they couldn't hear.

"How cheesy." Daisya commented with a smirk.

"Shut up." The youngest of them grumbled. He tried to ignore Lavi's stare, but it wasn't really working out so well. He _finally _looked away and Allen let out air he didn't know he was holding in.

Half an hour of practicing later...

"I think I got this down!" Lavi cheered and Lenalee nodded, agreeing with him.

"Hold on a second...I think...uh...okay, got it!" Daisya also joined in.

"Should we play it or wait for the judges?" Lavi asked. Lenalee looked at the clock.

"Well, we're going up in like five minutes. If number four finished early, we'll be called in and we don't want to spoil the fun." Lenalee said and Lavi nodded his head in agreement.

"I guess we just chill for now then?" Lavi asked, already relaxing into a couch that was supplied nearby. The rest of them followed suite and chilled out. Just a few minutes later, an employee came in and directed them to the room they had to go in and they wheeled their instruments out of the room and set them up in the new room. Lenalee took the mic and greeted them; they just nodded back. The audience, however, were more pumped and cheered.

"So, for our first two songs, only four of us are playing. Our keyboardist wasn't with at the time we created the songs, but the last song he will be playing." She then continued on, introducing where they were from and the name and answered any questions that the judges had.

"Okay, so what will your first song be?" The judge asked, interrupting Lenalee's story and getting a few boo's from the crowd behind them.

"The first song we'll be playing is called 'Dance, Dance'." The audience cheered and clapped and she smiled at them. She beckoned Lavi over and he grinned and skipped over. They all rolled their eyes and Lenalee smiled as she made her way to the drum-set.

"Begin whenever you're ready." The judge said in a bored tone, waving them off. _Wow, don't be so excited. _Allen thought sarcastically as sat at his keyboard. He'd stand when it was his time to play and he felt a bit left out not playing the first two songs with them, but ignored his feelings. Now that he thought about it, he didn't really listen to them all that much. Really, he just sat in the back and relaxed to the sound of their music.

His thoughts were cut short when Lenalee had started to play her drums. About four seconds into the song, Daisya started to play his bass and it was really catchy. He felt like there was something missing...but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...about ten seconds later, Lavi started to sing.

"_She says she's no good  
With words but I'm worse  
Barely stuttered out,  
A joke of romantic stuck to my tongue_

As Lavi sang the next lyrics, Kanda started to play along.

_"Weighed down words too overdramatic_  
_Tonight it's 'it can't get much worse'_  
_Vs. 'no one should ever feel like'_

Then Lavi joined in with his guitar.

_"I'm two quarters and a heart down_  
_And I don't wanna forget how your voice sounds_  
_These words are are all I have so I write them_  
_I just need them to get by_

Insert a catchy guitar tune here and here comes the chorus...

_"Dance, dance_  
_We're falling apart to half time_  
_Dance, dance_  
_And these are the lives you love to lead_  
_Dance,_  
_This is the way they'd love_  
_If they knew how misery loved me  
_

They really didn't sound that bad, actually...if Allen were to judge anything, he'd say they sounded terrific. But, then again, some parts probably could've been managed-not that he'd know considering that he wasn't a judge. He didn't even know how this whole competition worked out. Were they being compared to someone else and then they'd choose the better band to go on to the next round like some sort of fighting match? Or maybe did they just record all the bands and listen to them all before figuring out who they liked the best? It didn't really matter, Allen guessed, as long as they worked their hardest. He was unsure of _why _Lavi wanted a singer in their band since his voice was nearly _perfect _in Allen's opinion. No really, he was a really good singer he wasn't just saying that because Lavi was his friend...

_"You always fold just_  
_Before you're found out_  
_Drink up it's last call last resort _  
_But only the first mistake and I..._

_"I'm two quarters and a heart down_  
_And I don't wanna forget how your voice sounds_  
_These words are all I have so I write them_  
_I just need them to get by_

Honestly, Allen thought that he was going to sing the chorus again, but he was proved wrong...

_"Why don't you show me the little bit of spine_  
_You've been saving for his mattress, love_

_"Dance, dance_  
_We're falling apart to half time_  
_Dance, dance_  
_And these are the lives you love to lead_  
_Dance,_  
_This is the way they'd love_  
_If they knew how misery loved me_

_"Why don't you show me the little bit of spine  
You've been saving for his mattress  
I only want sympathy in the form of you  
Crawling into bed with me_

_"Dance, dance_  
_We're falling apart to half time_  
_Dance, dance_  
_And these are the lives you love to lead_  
_Dance,_  
_This is the way they'd love  
_Dance,  
This is the way they'd love  
Dance,  
This is the way they'd love  
_If they knew how misery loved me_

Allen found that they really liked putting guitar solos into their songs. Each Lavi and Kanda took turns with them, but they both sounded great, if not the same. It was probably the first time he saw Kanda having fun...if by him having fun meant he wasn't scowling at anyone or thing...which he wasn't. He just played and looked at nothing in particular. But, then again, with Kanda, who knew, right?

_"Dance, dance_  
_Dance, dance_  
_Dance, dance_  
_Dance, dance"_

And with that, the song was over. Allen found himself clapping alongside the audience as well. The judges were still writing things down by the time five minutes passed once the song was over. They all waited impatiently and Lavi had half a heart to not clear his throat into the microphone and embarrass the judges...if that'd even embarrass them. They finally finished writing and Lavi chose then to open his mouth and speak. "The next song is called 'Swear To Shake It Up'." He said cheerfully and winked at a few girls, causing them to squeal. Nearly everyone in the entire room rolled their eyes, including a few of the judges. Kanda glared at him. "Don't give me that, I'm just trying to lighten up the mood!"

More eye rolling ensues.

He gave them all looks and they all focused. This song probably didn't have an introduction so he needed to make sure they were all ready. Once again, Allen felt left out, but he started feeling more anxious as it was almost time for them to play _his _song in front of this whole crowd...all the songs they played so far were upbeat but Allen's was slow...would that sit well with the judges? Perhaps they should've played his song first...

_"Sit tight I'm gonna need you to keep time_  
_Come on just snap snap snap your fingers for me_  
_Good, good now we're making some progress_  
_Come on just tap tap tap your toes to the beat_

Every time Lavi repeated a word, Daisya would sing in the background softly along with him. He didn't sound bad, he just mirrored Lavi's voice-which he did a pretty good job at it might Allen add.

_"And I believe,_  
_This may call for a proper introduction, well_  
_Don't you see?_  
_I'm the narrator and this just the prologue._

_"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen_  
_Oh we're still so young,_  
_Desperate for attention_  
_I aim to be_  
_Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives_

_"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen_  
_Oh we're still so young,_  
_Desperate for attention_  
_I aim to be_  
_Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives_

_"Applause, applause_  
_No, wait wait_  
_Dear studio audience,_  
_I've an announcement to make_

It almost sounded like Lavi was actually _talking, _which made the song all that more catchy...

_"It seems the artists these days _  
_Are not who you think_  
_So we'll pick back up on that on another page_  
_And I believe, _  
_This may call for a proper introduction_

_"Well,_  
_Don't you see?_  
_I'm the nararator and this is just the prologue_

_"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen_  
_Oh we're still so young,_  
_Desperate for attention_  
_I aim to be_  
_Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives_

___"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen_  
_Oh we're still so young,_  
_Desperate for attention_  
_I aim to be_  
_Your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives_

After singing the chorus another two times, the song took an interesting turn into a creepy sort of way and the audience was moved at how easily they made them suspenseful. Allen blinked a few times at the sudden change. Was this supposed to happen?

_"Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen_  
_Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen_  
_Swear to shake it up, you swear to listen_  
_Swear to shake it up_

_"Swear to shake it up_

Lavi whispered and Allen felt more than a little creeped out. It was catchy, yes, but quite creepy...

_"Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen_  
_Oh we're still so young,_  
_Desperate for attention_  
_I aim to be_  
_Your eyes_

At this point, Allen didn't even know what to expect. Lavi started singing a few random 'Da's' and 'Duh's' and really, Allen was unsure if he was going to sing the chorus again or not. Out of all the randomness in this song, Allen could only guess that it was _Lavi _who wrote the thing. Was his attention span all over the place or what? Still, it was a good song. Lavi continued adding 'ah's' and 'uh's' until the song finally ended with a guitar strumming.

"That was a very...interesting song..." One of the judges murmured.

"Why thank you I made it up myself~" Lavi chirped.

"...knew it..." Allen mumbled and Lavi turned around to frown.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The audience laughed at his accusing tone.

"Nothing bad, certainly not." Allen drawled.

"At least mine isn't cheesy." The white-haired teen blushed at the redhead's accusation.

"Lavi, you're going to get him nervous." Lenalee scolded and Lavi shrugged.

"So you wrote this one yourself? Who wrote the one before this one?" One of the other judges asked curiously. They actually seemed to be interested and received scolding glances from the others.

"All of us except beansprout over there and Yuu." Lavi informed with a wide grin. Allen grumbled his signature 'My name is Allen', but no one paid any mind to him. They moreover feared for Lavi as Kanda tried to whack his head off with his guitar.

"Guys, guys, settle down!" One of the judges barked and the audience roared with laughter as the two awkwardly stepped away from each other. "You still have one more song to play. The, uh, cheesy one did you call it?" She asked amusingly and Allen blushed, glowering at the wall.

"Right, for this one there's an interesting sort of instruments I guess you could say." Lavi said and Allen switched through his settings on his keyboard and set it to piano, wondering why he didn't do this before. Daisya put his bass away and pulled out his violin. Lenalee nodded and looked at Lavi, who took out his acoustic. Lavi started playing before Allen was even prepared. _Oh god I can't do this I'm gonna mess up...NO! You can't back out now! You have to do this...just...stay calm..._he told himself and listened to the sound of Lavi's voice. He used to dream of this moment and now it was finally coming true.

...except when he dreamed it, he and Lavi were actually together.

_"I remember what you wore on the first day_  
_You came into my life and I thought_  
_'Hey, you know, this could be something'_  
_'Cause everything you do and words you say_  
_You know that it all takes my breath away_  
_And now I'm left with nothing"_

Now Allen was currently forcing himself to calm the hell down so he can sing and wouldn't sound like a total idiot. _Sing...sing...don't sound stupid...okay. Just. Don't. Freak. Out._

_"So maybe it's true  
That I can't live without you  
And maybe two is better than one  
There's so much time  
To figure out the best of my life  
And you've already got me coming undone  
And I"m thinkin' two is better than one"_

And now Allen had to sing...by _himself. _He didn't really realize the surprise on Lenalee's face as he sang along with Lavi. Even Daisya felt excited and it wasn't his time to play yet! Allen started playing his own little tune later on in the song as well. The audience was completely silent except for a few girls who were talking excitedly among each other. Allen opened his mouth to sing his own part as Lenalee started playing her drums.

"_I remember every look upon your face" _Yes it was one line so far, but Allen was nervous as he sang it, not that you could hear it in his voice. The next two lines Lavi had to sing.

_"The way you roll your eyes the way you taste  
You make it hard for breathing"  
_

This time it was both of their turn to sing, but Allen had to overpower Lavi's voice just by a little.

"'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away  
I think of you and everything's okay  
I'm finally now believing"

They both switched and Allen lowered his voice to let Lavi's through.

_"That maybe it's true_  
_That I can't live without you_  
_And maybe two is better than one_  
_There's so much time_  
_To figure out the best of my life_  
_And you've already got me coming undone_  
_And I'm thinkin' two is better than one_"

Cue the violin and piano here. After the burst of music, Lavi started to sing when it died down.

"I remember what you wore on the first day  
You came into my life and I thought hey..." Lavi trailed off and the two started singing together yet again

_"Maybe it's true_  
_That I can't live without you_  
_And maybe two is better than one_  
_There's so much time_  
_To figure out best of my life_  
_And you've already got me coming undone_  
_And I'm thinkin' _

_"Ooh ooh, I can't live without you_  
_'Cause baby two is better than one_  
_There's so much time_  
_To figure out the best of my life_  
_But I'll figure it out_  
_When all is said and done_  
_Two is better than one_

_"Two is better than one"_

There were several cheers from the girls once they finished the song and Allen honestly wanted to go bang his head against the wall. Of course the _girls _would like it...maybe Lavi was right...maybe it _was _too cheesy...maybe he should've just finished the other song...oh well...too late now, huh. The judges stacked their results and put them aside, bringing out another sheet to fill out for the next band coming in. They each had their own compliments and their own criticism, but all in all, they had fun and that's what mattered most.

When they came out of the room with their instruments completely intact, they were confronted by a few new fans and they even started telling them information about where else they could play. Before they left, the receptionist at the desk asked for their fax number/printer or whatever (Allen wasn't a genius when it came to that stuff) and they'd print the results of the judges to them later. The woman also said to make sure to stay in the area until five so that they'll know exactly what place they got. As soon as they managed to pack everything back into the van, they left to go watch more performances and some of the audience even asked to take pictures with them...and some of them hit on them...

Every time a new band would come out, the five would inwardly judge them-good and bad-and then have a picture taken with them and exchange numbers. This went on for quite awhile and it was almost two in the afternoon. They still had three hours until their names were announced (if they were announced) and it was then that Allen had started to feel dizzy. He dismissed it as nothing until a few minutes later his head began to hurt. _Crap...didn't Bak say something about side effects or something? _Allen thought, wiping sweat onto his glove from his forehead. Lavi and Lenalee left to go get drinks for the last two bands and Allen was stuck with _Kanda _of all people. Daisya left to use the bathroom.

_Aren't I just the lucky one? _

Allen tried to keep his eyes open, but it was becoming harder and harder with each passing minute. "Oi, beansprout, don't fucking fall asleep standing." Kanda muttered and Allen couldn't help but send him a weak glare. The older of them blinked a few times and narrowed his eyes at Allen's pale state. "The heck is wrong with you?" He asked, and stood up straight from where he was leaning on a rail before. "Don't you dare faint. If it's too hot, just fucking leave..." _Don't pass out...especially not in front of Kanda...don't you dare, Allen Walker...don't..._Allen's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell forward. Thankfully, yet surprisingly enough, Kanda caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Fuck."

* * *

**Yay for cliffhangers, right? :D *dodges pitchfork* The first song played was 'Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy', the second was 'The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage by Panic! At The Disco' (and you guys wonder why I changed the title xD) and then the last song 'Allen's Song' was 'Two Is Better Than One by Boys Like Girls' (surprise! xD)**


	8. Apologize

**Warning: Kanda's vulgar language. I was actually going to end this fic around 2.8k but then I felt like it'd be a filler if I did that. Each chapter should be exciting! So I continued...anyways, I'd like to thank Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, NessaTheSinner, Sora Arashitori, FallenxLinkin, Usagi-Twins, InsanityOwl, and VeridianSoul for reviewing! For those of you who guessed the titles before, don't forget to go to my profile! And as for the title...uh...it kinda fits...like maybe if you screw your head around three times and squint your eyes it fits...ish...not really. I really had a hard time finding a title for this one ;-;**

* * *

_Wow this is so fucking stupid. _Kanda thought, trying to wake the younger teen, aka beansprout, out of his unconsciousness. _Why the hell did I have to be left alone with him?! _He thought and shook him some more. And then a few girls nearby had the _nerve _to _ask _about him. Kanda gave them his famous death glare and they scurried away. _Fucking beansprout, always causing trouble. _The Japanese teen huffed and shifted on his other foot. He groaned, not finding anyway to be comfortable with Allen lounging on top of him. So, he shifted and had (forced) a nearby fan help him to get Allen on his back. _I shouldn't have to fucking do this. _He thought bitterly and gave Allen a ride on his back.

A fucking piggy-back ride.

He was so going to pay for this later.

"Kanda, what did you do?!" Lenalee asked accusingly when she and Lavi came back with food and drinks. Kanda growled lowly at her.

"Why do you assume that _I _did something to him?!" He snapped. "The little shit just passed out on me!" He could see Lavi trying to stifle laughter and gave him a threatening glare. Lavi would _usually _flinch and stop his antics but this time...well, it wasn't like Kanda could _do _anything to him with Allen on his back. Then again, he was pretty sure that Kanda wasn't afraid to drop him. Lenalee walked closer to him to prevent him from doing so and pressed the back of her hand to Allen's forehead.

"He's got a fever." She stated and Kanda resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Her lips upturned a little and Kanda felt his eye twitch. "Why don't you take him back to the van." It definitely wasn't a question...the tone she used was one she used when she usually got her way...

"Why do _I _have to do it?!" Kanda grumbled and Lavi snickered.

"Because you were there when he collapsed. Not to mention that you didn't want to watch the other bands play anyway." She replied.

The fact that she had a point bugged him.

"Whatever..." He growled and walked past her. She giggled alongside Lavi and tried not to show the grin on her face.

"Make sure you take _great _care of him!" She called after him. After that, her and Lavi couldn't help but breakdown into laughter when Kanda flipped them off. Lenalee made sure to blow up his phone telling him the different things he could do to get his fever down and they both laughed whilst walking back to the auditorium. After their chuckling had finally died down, Lenalee's face was overcome with worry.

"You don't think it's anything too bad, do you?" She asked. Lavi just shrugged.

"Maybe he and Yuu were actually screwing around and Yuu 'accidentally' knocked him out. It is kinda hot in here so I wouldn't be surprised if anyone was sweating." Lavi assured.

"If you say so..." Lenalee mumbled and paid attention to the band playing. She was glad that they already had some picture with bands while Allen was there. Daisya finally returned from the bathroom and questioned Kanda and Allen's disappearance. He complained when he found out that Kanda had to carry him to the van.

"You should have taken a picture!" Daisya whined. They both blinked.

"I really should have." Lenalee mumbled.

"So he's alright though, right?" Daisya asked warily. "Like, he doesn't have any disease or something, right?" He asked, earning a smack from Lenalee. "...jus' sayin'..." Lenalee blinked and opened her phone when she noticed she had a message from Kanda.

_Received: Kanda, 4:28pm - I fucking hate you guys. _

_Sent: Kanda, 4:29pm - We love you too, Kanda. So how is he? _

_Received: Kanda, 4:29pm - Fucking fantastic. _

Lenalee rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone.

Meanwhile with Kanda...

"Fucking sprout just had to go fucking fall asleep." He grumbled, looking for something comfortable for Allen to lay his head on. He didn't care...definitely not...it was just that he knew Lenalee would scold him if he let Allen lay on the hard floor of the van. Yes...that was it. He looked around and couldn't find anything. He could always just put him in one of the seats...but that would require _picking him up again. _It was inevitable, Kanda knew. So, begrudgingly, he picked him up again and halfheartedly dropped him in the passenger seat. He positioned the seat backwards so that Allen was laying on his back.

_Now _what was he supposed to do?

Kanda pulled out his phone and checked the previous bombing of Lenalee's texts and his eye twitched...making his fever go down required him to _care _for the beansprout. What if he _woke up _while he was trying to take care of him? Allen would hang it over his head for forever. Still, if he didn't do _something _Lenalee would do something stupid...like lower his portion of food when they ate out...and then she'd probably give it to the black pit in front of him...now _that _would piss him off. _I am not stripping him..._Kanda grumbled as he looked at the text of 'Lessen his clothes so his temperature will go down.' Yeah, no. Kanda was _not _taking Allen's clothes off. Then there was always the cold rag thing but did it _look _like Kanda had a cold rag on him? The long-haired teen growled and started the van, blasting the AC and positioning the vents towards Allen.

_Now _what?

He plugged Lenalee's iPod in and let soothing music play through the van. He closed his eyes and waited for the bands to be done. They stopped at five, right? That wasn't long...just half an hour. Certainly it wouldn't kill his battery to have the van on for just thirty minutes. Oh well, it's not like the van belonged to him anyways so he really didn't care what happened to the van. There were plenty of buses that they could pay to take them home if anything _did _happen to the van. With that thought in mind, Kanda yawned and positioned his chair a little back as well (not so much to lay down, but whatever).

"KANDA KANDA KANDA KANDA KANDA!" Kanda's eyebrow twitched dangerously as the persistent teen on the other side of the window resumed their banging and chanting. Angrily, Kanda rolled the window down and gave Daisya his meanest glare.

"What the _fuck _do you want?" He asked and Daisya scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"Um, to get in? They were announcing the bands and stuff and there was a huge line to get the prize so Lavi and Lenalee stayed to get that stuff. I was not about to wait in line so I came back here." Daisya explained. Kanda pressed the button to unlock the doors and Daisya chirped a short 'thanks!' and climbed in through the back, making sure to not knock any instruments over. "Jeez, aren't you _cold?" _Daisya asked, shivering. Kanda said nothing but turned the AC down. He closed his eyes again but Daisya didn't seem to want to shut up.

"...so we met with some band called CROW, like, with all capitals, and they were kinda freaky. There were _six _of them...with a manager that reminded me of Hitler, no joke man, he had the mustache and all!"

How was _anyone _supposed to get some sleep around this guy?

"Hey, Daisy." Kanda grumbled and Daisya snapped his mouth shut before opening it again to question him.

"What?"

"Shut the fuck up."

The brunette gave him an annoyed grumble but shut up none-the-less. They waited for the others in silence and Daisya was pretty sure that Kanda fell asleep, leaving him all to himself with nothing to do. He could go back to the auditorium to find Lavi and Lenalee, but there was a _mess _of sponsors and fans and bands in there and it was pure chaos. Sighing, Daisya rested his head on the back of Allen's seat to get some shut-eye as well. It had been half an hour since Lavi and Lenalee left to get their reward for god knows what place they got and Daisya still hadn't managed to fall asleep. He was just so...restless. Who wouldn't be? After waiting for what seemed like hours, the back door of the van opened and the two missing members came tumbling in.

"We got fourth!" Lenalee chirped happily. _There's a prize for that? _Daisya wondered and stared at them. "It's not much, but we got a trophy and, like, five-hundred dollars. And we're only using it for the band _only." _She added with a stern glare. She paused and looked past him. "So how's Allen holding up?" She asked. Daisya shrugged.

"I dunno, I tried sleeping but it wasn't working. Kanda and Allen both fell asleep on me." Daisya informed and pulled himself up when he noticed Lenalee narrowing her eyes at him. He looked over the seat to see how Allen was. "He looks tired...but he's sleeping...how does that even make sense? Oh well, yeah, he's sweating too even though the AC was _blasting _when I came in here. That's why it's so freakin' cold." Daisya glowered. Lenalee frowned at the news.

"He hasn't woken up yet?" She asked and Daisya shook his head.

"Nope."

"Hm..." She hummed in thought.

"I have an idea!" Lavi piped up. "Well, first we gotta wake Kanda up, but then we can drive to, like, McDonalds or something. Allen likes food, right?"

"Hey, Kanda~!" Daisya sang, shaking the teen's shoulders. Lenalee and Lavi shared a 'he's gonna get himself killed' look. "AGH!" He yelped and dodged a punch.

"The fuck you waking me up for?" He snapped.

"Food." He answered plainly. Kanda growled and shifted the gears, rubbing his eye.

"Is Allen buckled?" Lenalee asked.

"Do I _look _like his fucking mom?"

"Well _someone _woke up on the wrong side of the bed today~" Lavi said in a sing-song voice. He, being the responsible one for once, crawled to the front of the van and buckled Allen up. Lenalee paused for a moment.

"Is it even _legal _for us to be back here?" She asked. Lavi, being the person full of useless knowledge, was the one to speak.

"Well yes unless if one of us is eighteen and there aren't five or more people younger than seventeen." Lavi answered.

"Okay, so this _isn't _illegal then, right? Because if Komui found out, you all would be dead."

"It's legal. Perfectly legal." Daisya answered with a firm nod.

"If you say so..." She mumbled, not at all convinced. Kanda turned into the drive-through of McDonalds and looked at all of them, expecting their orders.

"I think I'll just have a McChicken and fries. Don't forget the drink!" She chirped and Kanda nodded.

"Hm...do we have a price limit?" He asked and earned a glare from Kanda. "I'll guess that we do. Dollar menu it is then! I'll just have what Lenalee's having." He said and leaned back.

"I'll take a double cheeseburger!" Lavi said with a grin. Kanda didn't really like McDonalds so he didn't order anything but a tea. They were all silent for a minute.

"Um...what does Allen like?" Lenalee asked and they all shrugged at her.

"He's fucking garbage disposal I'm pretty sure he'll eat _anything." _Kanda grumbled and ordered him a ten-piece chicken nugget meal. "Fucking sprout...eats so damn much...bet this is only a snack to him." Kanda grumbled as he drove up to the window. All the teenagers in the back snickered at him, not really caring that Allen got a bigger meal. He _was _a bottomless pit after all. When he pulled up to the window, the employee's face went completely blank. She seemed nervous about serving to him. He gave her a stern look, trying to be as nice as possible.

But being nice was not one of Kanda's fortes.

"Are you going to take the money or what?" He snapped. She paused and slowly took his money.

"Um, sir...you're not..." She trailed off uncertainly.

"I'm not what? A fucking pedophile? Oh yeah, I have little kids in the back that's what the fucking food is for. Christ, just give us our food, Lady." He snapped and she scurried away to get their order. Kanda did _not _have the patience for this. He _hated _ordering while driving the stupid van. After she handed him their food and drinks, he sped off without another word and swerved out of the exit.

"Gee, Kanda, think you can be a little faster?" Daisya asked, scowling as he rubbed his head.

"Don't you dare fucking complain." Kanda growled.

"You know, you've been quite talkative today, Yuu." Lavi said.

"Shut the fuck up."

"Now, Kanda, you should probably calm down..." Lenalee said soothingly and crawled up front to receive their food. She took out Allen's chicken nuggets and shook the boy's shoulder.

"Allen...you gotta wake up..." She mumbled. "There's food~" She sang and Lavi snorted when Allen's eyelids fluttered open.

"Hm?" He hummed, looking over at Lenalee. She offered him the box and he blinked.

"You have food." He said and Kanda che'd.

"No shit." Allen's eyebrow twitched and he was about to say something smart until he realized that he collapsed in front of Kanda. Blushing, Allen took the food with a soft 'thank you' and stared out the window. Even if he didn't want to, he knew that he'd have to thank Kanda later. Allen sunk in his seat.

_How embarrassing..._

They all sat in silence when Kanda parked the van in Lavi's driveway. Or well, Lavi's half of the driveway. Allen was texting, Daisya was quietly humming along with Lenalee's music, Lavi was looking between Kanda and Allen intriguingly, and Kanda just shut off the ignition. Lenalee herself was checking the instruments for any scratches. Once she finished checking, deeming them with no scratches, she collected everyone's trash and opened the doors. Lavi and Daisya followed her lead and left the van along with her. Now it was just Kanda and Allen in the van and boy was it _awkward. _

"U-um..." Allen started and Kanda gave him an odd look, watching him as he unbuckled his seat-belt. "...th-thank you..." He mumbled. Kanda didn't say anything and Allen was glad he didn't. If he did, it'd most likely be something smart. It was just how their friendship worked. If you could call what they had a friendship.

With that, Allen climbed out of the van and stumbled a little, feeling dizzy as his head started to throb with pain. He closed the door and steadied himself whilst bidding Lavi, Lenalee, and Daisya goodnight. Usually their practice finished at eight, but they all felt exhausted from the competition. It seemed that Cross wasn't home from the looks of it. One, everything looked exactly how it was before Allen left and two, his car wasn't in the driveway. Allen pulled out his phone and texted Cross about it. He inwardly groaned when Cross messaged back saying he'd be gone for a month. If he was gone then that meant less food in the house. Allen wondered if maybe living with friends would save him. But, he gave up on that thought when he realized just _who _his friends were.

Lenalee had an obsessive brother that would probably chain him up in the basement if he asked to sleep over, Lavi...well, a confrontation with Bookman was _not _what Allen wanted, Kanda...well, he'd be dead before he could get through the front door. Daisya...wasn't Daisya Kanda's brother or something? Then again, Kanda was eighteen so maybe he moved out? He'd have to ask Lenalee about that later. If Kanda _did _move out, then Allen had a chance of warming up to Daisya and living with him for a month...but then again, wouldn't he be a bother to his family? The only other choice was Neah and he was _not _about to live with him. Why? Well he was a bit too _attached _not to mention he had practice to go to everyday at three. If he went over there, it'd just be a waste of gas.

_...I think I'll just get a job..._

* * *

As the week passed by, Allen found out that finding a job was _not _an easy task. Especially when you were fifteen years old. Apparently restaurants (especially fast food restaurants) didn't hire people under the age of sixteen to avoid problems. Speaking _of _problems, Allen was starting to have more fainting spells. He supposed that it was because he still hadn't gotten his arm checked out. At this rate, he'd probably end up dying from fatigue _and _fainting spells. He didn't have the money for grocery shopping, neither did he have a _ride _and fainting was starting to become something daily in his life. Besides his own problems, Brightdown seemed to be more relaxed ever since their competition. Practice hours had been reduced to being around three to five. That was only _two _hours of practice. It did help Allen find time to look for a job, but that was kind of useless when no one would _hire _him.

_I never thought I'd have to do this again..._

He didn't like gambling, he really didn't. Whenever he did, he felt evil yet victorious. How can you feel amazing when you were cheating people out of their money? Sadly, Allen did. He looked around and lifted his hood up before walking downtown. It was around six and there weren't as much people driving around. It was much easier to cross the road then. What was really annoying at the moment was that there weren't much...pubs around. When he lived in England, he lived in a ghetto town and there was a pub at every corner. Why would Cross move somewhere without all of those things? Hell, Allen was sure that he'd be better off looking in the Red Light District-not that he'd do that. He wasn't _that _desperate. Said teen paused and looked up, narrowing his eyes at a sign that he was pretty sure he passed five minutes ago...twice..._  
_

"Lost?" An amused voice asked and Allen stiffened. _Oh my god, this guy isn't going to try and rob me, is he? I only have my phone on me, I don't have any money, oh my god what if he tries to kill me?! _Allen thought, panicking. He turned around slowly and his jaw tightened when he saw who it was.

Tyki Mikk.

Now, he was sure that if he and Tyki were friends in the past, they could probably get along well...however...they weren't friends. In fact, they hated each other. Or well, they _used _to hate each other. Allen met him once when he visited Lavi's high school because he had a free day and Lavi knew the principal well and could get anything from him. That was the day that Tyki appeared. Apparently he was an 'old friend' of Lavi's. Apparently many of Lavi's 'old friends' hated him. It was after school had ended and the two started arguing about something Allen couldn't determine before Tyki had got up and loomed over Lavi dangerously, muttering hateful things to the redhead. Allen had tried calming them down, but it just wasn't working...

...and then a fight started.

Back then, Allen was pretty weak compared to how he was now. Tyki was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and managed to dodge both of their attacks and land his own blows. Sure, he and Lavi laughed it off afterwards when they came out okay, but that was only thanks to Kanda, who somehow happened to have a sword on him for whatever reason...Allen was pretty sure that they could've been killed if Kanda hadn't came to rescue them. That being said, he and Tyki never really got along. However, right now, Allen had an advantage.

Tyki couldn't _possibly _recognize him.

Still, Allen kept his gaze to the ground to mask his face. "...no..." He answered and turned around. Tyki chuckled and, regrettably, he followed him. Jeez, how old was this guy again? Twenty something?

"Really? Because you're heading towards the way that will take you all the way around here...again." Tyki smirked when Allen stopped walking. "You sure you aren't lost?" He asked and Allen completely froze when he felt Tyki's hand on his shoulder. "I could help you out you know."

_Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap..._

"No thank you." Allen said and side-stepped away from him. He headed off in a random direction; anywhere to get him from Tyki.

"I feel like you're trying to avoid me. Say, have we met?" Tyki asked, following Allen as he headed towards a convenience store. Tyki couldn't possibly try and hit him if someone was watching them. He'd be arrested because Allen was a minor and he wasn't. _Brilliant, Allen, brilliant. All you have to do is get inside now. _Allen thought to himself. He was so close to the store's doors when a hand shot out to stop him from moving forward. _  
_

_Ah, crap._

He tried backing away, only to bump into Tyki's _other _arm. He was completely cornered. Tyki leaned forward and tried to see under Allen's hood but he looked away. He couldn't take _any _chances. Then again, wouldn't it be a bit sad if Tyki recognized him when Lavi couldn't? It was impossible...he only met Tyki once or twice, there'd be no way for him to recognize him when he hung around Lavi for about a year and he couldn't recognize him. "We _have _met before, haven't we?" Allen knew the question was rhetorical, but he needed any chance he could get. _  
_

"Um...no..." Allen paused and resisted the urge to smirk at his next line. "...y-you're just really creeping me out..."

Tyki's eye twitched at that.

_Did I take that too far? _He wondered and kept his gaze to the sidewalk. _Maybe that was too much...oh dear what if he's mad now and tries to hit me...I mean, I did have to study combat with Cross and sometimes Narain, but this guy has more experience than I do! Yeah, I definitely took that too far..._Allen's mind was in a complete buzz until he felt two fingers bring his chin upwards and a hand pull his hood back. Tyki's eyes were lit with amusement and Allen flushed a crimson color. How could he be so stupid?! Why did he just let Tyki do that? Then again, it wasn't as if Tyki could recognize him anyways-

"Allen?" He questioned and Allen's eyes widened. He sidestepped away from Tyki and nearly tumbled backwards when he tripped over a rock behind him.

"H-how did you...?" Allen trailed off, staring at Tyki in shock. Tyki raised his eyebrows.

"Recognize you?" He finished and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "I've been dealing with people who change my entire life. It'd be quite a shame if I couldn't recognize _you." _Allen bit his lip and slowly backed away from him. Tyki was way too entertained with Allen's reaction to _not _follow after him. "So, where's your little boyfriend?"

"He isn't my boyfriend." Allen snapped. Tyki blinked a few times.

"What?"

"We broke up three years ago." Allen informed, wondering why he was telling Tyki this in the first place.

He _did _try to kill him, after all.

"Hm, really? Are you two still in contact?" He asked and Allen gave him an odd look.

"Why would it matter to you?" Tyki shrugged at the question.

"Just curious, I guess." He replied. "You do realize I'm not going to hurt you, right?" Tyki asked when he noticed Allen backing away from him.

"Tch, why should I trust you?" Allen asked and paused. "You tried to kill me." He added. Tyki mulled Allen's words over before chuckling.

"I did, didn't I? Well, I guess you could say I was a bit stupid back then." He said. _Did he seriously just insult himself? _Allen wondered. "But you know, it was Lavi who threw the first punch. You're the one who chose to get involved when you could've just ran for help." Allen bit his lip. Tyki did have a point. The man pocketed his hands and gazed around at their surroundings. He looked at Allen and walked forward towards him. Allen wasn't paying attention at all, trying to keep himself from fainting again. He _really _needed to see Bak soon. The doctor was knee-deep in work at the worst time.

Allen's fatigue wasn't helping either.

"You know," Tyki suddenly spoke from in front of Allen, causing the boy's eyes to snap open. With his dizziness, that really wasn't a good idea. "I'm sure if we got to know each other we could get along. After all, we both have the same interests." Allen narrowed his eyes at him.

"What are you trying to play here?" He asked suspiciously, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Play? I'm not trying to play anything. I'm sure if we put our differences aside..." Tyki trailed off and narrowed his eyes at Allen's swaying form. "Are you alright?" He questioned.

"I'm f-fine..." Allen lied. He needed to get away from this man quickly before he fainted. Maybe he could text Lavi or Lenalee or Daisya or _Kanda. _It'd be really bad if he collapsed in the street...

"Are you _sure? _You look like you're about to fall over." Tyki observed.

"Shut up." Allen grumbled and backed away again.

Rocks seemed to love getting in his way.

Once again, Allen found himself tripping; but this time, he wasn't stable enough to catch himself. He slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Just before he slipped away, he felt someone catch him. Obviously it had to be Tyki, but what would the man do with him? They weren't exactly friends and for all Allen knew, Tyki was just trying to fool him into buying a fake act. He could just be pretending to want to help him and secretly be trying to hurt him...but then again, why would he do that? Tyki should know the consequences of beating a minor up, especially for no good reason.

He supposed he'd have to wait...


	9. All The Small Things

**_Why _are you guys thinking Tyki's going to rape Allen? What the heck guys this is rated T for a reason (hm...I wonder if that's ever gonna change xD) But seriously. Rape? Poor Tyki, always being expected to rape someone...then again, he is kind of creepy...but I actually like Tyki so no he will not be a bad guy! Warning:...I never said that there weren't going to be pairings before Laven ;3 There _will _be eventual Laven...but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun, right? :D *dodges flying knife* Thank you Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (I have memorized your user already xD), Guest, InsanityOwl, FallenxLinkin, The John Johnson (*face palm*), Usagi-Twins (*yet another face palm*), and VeridianSoul for reviewing! **

* * *

Allen Walker was in deep trouble.

Deep, _deep _trouble.

Now, Allen Walker was usually in deep trouble on a daily basis. Usually it ranged from running away to debt collectors to someone out there trying to kill him. Allen was past the 'someone out there trying to kill him' phase. Oh yes, where he was...well, it was in enemy territory. He needed to quickly plan a way out before said enemy found out here was awake. He could always climb out the window to his left, but...it was two stories high and Allen did _not _want to sprain his ankle by jumping out of a house. He'd have to find some way to sneak downstairs without catching his enemy's attention.

Who was this enemy?

Tyki Mikk.

Yes, Allen wanted to bash his head into a wall for letting himself get caught. It wasn't _his _fault. In fact if he _did _get raped, he'd blame it on his doctor, Bak. Now, Allen didn't usually put the blame on people, but when you were kidnapped by a creepy man because of fainting spells...he'd turn to the person who was the reason behind his fainting spells. Which would be Bak. If Bak had actually gave him medicine or took a look at his arm to _prevent _this, then he wouldn't have gotten kidnapped. He could have at least run away and maybe have gotten some distance between them. Besides...

...Allen was really good at running away...

Okay, so that sounded bad, but it wasn't really as bad. The thing he usually ran away from was the debt collectors and angry drunk men who had their money stolen from them through a 'fair and square' game of Poker...okay, so maybe it wasn't _fair and square _but it was their fault for being drunk anyways! If they weren't drunk, they would _clearly _see that Allen was cheating because back then, Allen wasn't really the best at cheating. He would practice on drunk people until he got it right...as bad as _that _sounded. It wasn't _his _fault that Cross liked spending money on things they didn't need and then make _him _pay for it! Well then again, Allen probably could have gotten a job instead of cheating people out of their money. But think about it, if it was hard for a _fifteen year old _to get a job, imagine how hard it would be for a _twelve year old _to get a job.

That's right...Allen had no choice but to cheat people out of their money.

"You're up." Allen was startled out of his thoughts and looked up to see Tyki leaning against the door frame.

Now he _really _wanted to bash his head into a wall. He didn't even see Tyki come in because of his thoughts!

"Uh...yeah..." Allen mumbled, looking around. It was obvious where he was because of the scent, but it was a habit of his to ask. "Where am I?"

"My room." Tyki answered. Allen looked out the window again. It was dark outside...how long had he been out?

"What time is it?" Allen questioned suspiciously.

"Hm...around nine. You would know that if you checked your phone. Oh, by the way, I had to turn it on silent because you kept getting messages." Tyki said and smirked at Allen amusingly. "I didn't know you were so popular."

"Neither did I." Allen mumbled and grabbed his phone which was charging on the bedside table. He blinked several times when he saw that he had..._Oh my god, thirty messages?! _

Of course twenty one of them were from Lavi.

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:24pm - Yo, Allen, is it okay if we come over?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:29pm - Uh, hellooooooo?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:32pm - Fine, ignore me see if I care :P_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:36pm - ...I was just kidding..._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:41pm - Um...are you okay, dude? Or are you sleeping again?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:53pm - If you do not answer within the next five minutes, I'm going to break in to your house. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 6:58pm - Okay, you asked for it~_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 7:14pm - Dude! You're not even here -_-;;; where are you?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 7:27pm - Hey...this is really creepy, why aren't you answering? It's really creeping me out..._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:12pm - Omgomgomgomgomgomg so like now everyone is freaking out DUDE WHERE ARE YOU?!_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:26pm - Allen, this seriously isn't funny. If your phone is dead...well then fuck me but man holy shit you're like terrifying me right now. We're out lookin' for you and OMG IF YOU DIE I'LL KILL YOU._

...If he was dead then how would Lavi kill him?

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:33pm - This is like one of those TV shows where your friend disappears and is held captive in a basement because like I have an enemy that has it out for me and we only have so much time before we find you and then they kill you. Don't they send you like some kind of message to tell you though?!_

Allen chuckled to himself. Lavi watched way too many TV shows.

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:35pm - Now that I think about it if they were holding you captive they wouldn't let you have your phone now would they?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:36pm - Oh, but then again, wouldn't they answer if I called you or something?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:39pm - Man I'm seriously freaking out right now. Lenalee is too. I think Kanda might be but he could just be sick again. Daisya's freaking out more than I am._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:41pm - DUDE ANSWER!_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:43pm - IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME BY LIKE 9:30 I'M GOING TO CALL THE COPS. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:49pm - Maybe I should lower that time because, like, they could be TORTURING you right now for all I know!_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 8:52pm - OKAY I'M LOWERING IT TO 9:15!_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:01pm - Dude this is really scary shit. We may be overreacting or some shit but omfg this is so fucking scary._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:06pm - TICK TOCK TICK TOCK OMG I'M GOING TO DIE._

Then he had two from Lenalee.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 6:25pm - Hey, Allen, is it alright if we come over?_

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 9:05pm - Allen, this is actually really scary will you just answer Lavi?_

Then one from who he suspected was Kanda because of the, uh, vulgar language...

_Received: Unknown Number, 9:03pm - Beansprout if you don't fucking answer the fucking rabbit right now whenever I see you I WILL chop your fucking head off._

Then he had one from a number he was quite unsure of...maybe Daisya?

_Received: Unknown Number, 8:58pm - Okay, dude, I know we don't know each other well but you should REALLY answer our messages, like, I don't know if you are pissed off at us or anything but if you are at least tell us you're okay._

Allen sulked when he realized there were three from _Neah _of all people. _They told him...how dare they..._

_Received: Neah, 7:23pm - Allen, are you alright? Lavi says you're not home, he called me to see if you were here and you're not..._

_Received: Neah, 7:45pm - ALLEN YOU NEED TO ANSWER ME NOW!_

_Received: Neah, 9:02pm - You're seriously scaring me, Allen. _

Then there were two from Bak who was just trying to schedule a date for his appointment. Allen quickly texted Lavi to make sure he called the cops. It may sound really terrible, but he actually felt quite loved. Everyone was freaking out because he disappeared for a few hours...his phone could've died for all they knew yet they were blowing up his phone like no tomorrow. Was it okay to feel loved after reading all those messages? They were worried about him even now and here he was, perfectly fine and they would never know it...

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:09pm - I'm fine, Lavi, sorry for not answering earlier I fainted..._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:09pm - CHRIST ALLEN YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF US AND THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?! WHERE ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?! HOW ARE YOU FEELING?! ARE YOU OKAY?! WHAT HAPPENED?! WHO PICKED YOU UP?!_

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:10pm - Lavi. I'm fine._

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:11pm - Where. Are. You. _

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:12pm - I'll be home soon enough. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:12pm - HOW WOULD I KNOW THAT YOU COULD BE KIDNAPPED AND THEY COULD BE TELLING YOU TO TELL ME THIS STUFF SO I WOULDN'T CALL THE COPS!_

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:13pm - I'll see you in a little bit, Lavi. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:14pm - I'M NOT SATISFIED._

"You done yet?" Tyki asked. Allen nodded his head and set the phone back down on the bedside table. They were both quiet until Allen spoke up.

"So why did you bring me here?" Allen asked.

"Well you probably wouldn't want me to bring you to a hospital." Tyki answered. "Not to mention I have no idea where you live." He added.

"Which is probably a good thing." Allen muttered and Tyki chuckled.

"Do I really look that creepy?"

"Yes. Yes you do." Tyki sighed a the answer.

"Well, my bad." He grumbled. He then pushed himself off of the door frame and walked over to the bed, sitting on it. "I guess it is quite suspicious for me to act friendly now."

"That is an understatement." Allen interrupted but Tyki paid no mind to it.

"But we're both changed people, right?"

The question had more of an impact on Allen than he thought it would. Tyki _did _have a point; even if he wouldn't admit it, after he and Lavi broke up, Allen _did _change. He used to be more shy and quiet three years ago and it took him forever to open up to people. Even when he moved to England it took him awhile to warm up to people. When he transferred in, he was often made fun of because he was 'American' (even though he was clearly British) and because of his white hair and weird scar. The only one who hadn't insulted him was a classmate named Narain. In fact, Narain would often stand up for him sometimes even though they didn't know each other at the time. Narain was actually studying to be a doctor because his sister was sick and he didn't want anyone to go through that kind of pain. He was interested in Allen's arm the first time he saw it. He didn't judge Allen for it, he actually _wanted _to see it. After meeting Narain and getting to know him, Allen opened up more and wasn't afraid to be himself.

But then what about Tyki?

"You've _changed?" _Allen asked warily. Tyki shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window.

"I've matured if that's what you're talking about." Allen's eye twitched at Tyki's words. _He's _the one who implied that they both have changed... "You know, we never really got to know each other. I may be a nicer person than you and you would never even know. Isn't it natural to hate someone who has hated you?" Tyki asked.

"What do you mean?" Allen asked back. Tyki sighed and slid his hand over his curly black hair to keep it from falling in his face.

"I guess you could say I made a mistake of sorts with Lavi and since then he's hated me. I even apologized, something that wasn't likely of me back then, and he still didn't accept my apology." Tyki muttered.

"What did you _do?" _Allen questioned suspiciously. Tyki pursed his lips.

"I don't really think it matters _now. _If you're still friends with him then you don't have to tell him about me. He'd obviously be pissed if you became friends with me." The raven-haired man glowered.

"Why should I be friends with you?" Allen asked accusingly.

"Why indeed. Look, _boy, _I don't have much friends, mostly family, and I just want you to give me a chance."

"Even though you tried to kill me?" Allen trailed off questioningly, causing Tyki to sigh.

"Even though I tried to kill you." Tyki confirmed. _People change, Allen, you've got to know that..._Narain's words echoed through his head.

"I guess...it couldn't hurt to try...but one wrong move and-" Allen was cut off when Tyki ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry, boy, I won't do anything you wouldn't like." Allen still didn't completely trust Tyki...but for now he supposed he needed to... "You should probably get some rest seeing as you didn't hesitate to pass out into an enemy's arms."

"Hey, I _tried _staying awake!" Allen countered and grabbed his phone. Tyki stood up and walked towards the door. "...you know where Lavi lives, right?" Tyki stopped and turned his head towards Allen.

"I do. He lives in a duplex, right? Why are you asking?" He asked thoughtfully.

"...well I live on the other side..." Allen mumbled. Tyki smiled unlike his usual smirks.

"Good to know." He hummed.

"I'm not just telling you so you can kidnap me again!" Allen snapped.

"K-kidnap you?" Tyki laughed.

"It's just...I don't know where we are...and I need a ride home tomorrow..." He grumbled.

"Sure thing." Tyki smirked at him.

_I must be insane. I'm trusting a guy who tried to kill me in the past. What the hell is wrong with me? Well, then again, Cross always told me that I was too trusting...and gullible...but still, Tyki _does _seem like a different person...I can't really explain it but he just seems different..._Allen pulled out his phone and texted a quick message to Lavi. Hopefully he and the others wouldn't freak out on him for staying over. They didn't have to know who he was staying with...Kanda would probably be pissed since he was the one who had to drive them around for hours.

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:22pm - Actually, I'm going to stay the night here. Don't worry, I'm with a friend :) _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:22pm - Who? _

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:23pm - ...an old friend. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:24pm - ...whatever Allen. So you will be at practice tomorrow, right? It starts at two because there's no school. Then we'll practice until five._

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:25pm - I thought practice last until six?_

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:25pm - Well yeah, but Allen it's the weekend. People have things to do, you know?_

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:26pm - ...whatever Lavi. See you tomorrow. _

_Received: Lavi Bookman, 9:27pm - Night, Allen. _

_Sent: Lavi Bookman, 9:27pm - Goodnight, Lavi._

Allen yawned and put his phone down once again before snuggling into a pillow...which smelled a lot like Tyki. _Well no duh, Allen, this is Tyki's house the entire house smells like him. _Allen told himself sarcastically. First he faints in front of two people he'd rather not have fainted in front of, then he gets kidnapped by an old enemy and then he actually _trusts _the enemy and befriends him... and now he was talking to himself...

...great.

* * *

"Mm..." Allen hummed, feeling extremely comfortable. It was weird, he never expected to be so warm waking up. Actually, he was usually cold nowadays because of his arm throwing his temperatures off balance. He was either too cold or too hot but now he just felt perfectly warm. He hugged whatever was in front of him tighter.

"I didn't know you were such a cuddle-bug in your sleep." Tyki commented.

"...shuddup..." Allen mumbled automatically. He furrowed his eyebrows and slowly retracted his hands before feeling what exactly he was cuddling with...

He was cuddling with Tyki.

"AH!" Allen yelped and pushed himself away from Tyki. "What do you think you're doing?!" He growled. Tyki raised an eyebrow at him, looking away from his book.

"What am _I _doing? Reading a book, of course. _You _were the one snuggling with me." Tyki pointed out. Allen blushed and scowled at him. "This _is _my bed after all and I wasn't about to kick you out. I wasn't about to sleep on the couch either because god only _knows _what the twins would pull on me while I was sleeping." Allen tilted his head.

"Twins?" He asked.

"Well, they're not identical twins. They're my brothers and they usually visit me when I least expect it by breaking into my house." Tyki informed.

"...right." Allen said slowly and looked outside. "What time is it?"

"Probably around nine." Tyki answered, squinting his eyes at the alarm clock on the bedside table. "9:12 to be exact." Tyki looked back at his book. Allen grumbled and slowly slid under the covers. "Are you going back to sleep?"

"...no..."

What a lie _that _was.

Allen ended up sleeping for another two hours before he woke up again. This time Tyki was not in the bed. Allen didn't bother wondering where he could be and picked up his phone that was currently vibrating like the world would end. "Hello?" He asked sleepily.

"Yo, Allen! Boy am I glad to hear _you. _I thought your friend that kidnapped you would answer."

It was Lavi...

...and he was being utterly ridiculous.

"Jeez, Lavi, I told you last night-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Lavi interrupted. "I can't be worried about my best friend?" It was rhetorical, but Allen answered anyways.

"Well when it's eleven in the morning and I just woke up, no, you can't." He replied jokingly.

"Feelin' the love, Allen." Lavi said absentmindedly. "So, when are you coming home? Home as in your house..." He muttered.

"Meh, maybe around one something. I dunno..." Allen yawned.

"Ugh, suspenseful! I want you to tell me what happened~!" He whined.

"Too bad. Oh look, I have another call coming in, see ya later, bye." Allen hung up and put his phone back on the bedside table.

"Well that was awful nice of you." Tyki said, startling Allen out of his thoughts yet again. He was wondering if he should call Bak about that appointment...maybe if Bak had room open he could have him come over after practice was over. Allen stuck his tongue out at him and laid back down. "It's eleven, you aren't _seriously _going back to sleep again, are you?"

"...no..." Allen mumbled.

"The last time you said that you fell back asleep." Tyki reminded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." The younger grumbled. "I just feel so tired..."

"Would breakfast cheer you up?" Tyki asked and Allen resisted the urge to jump out of bed. His stomach growled at the thought of food. When was the last time he ate again? Thinking about food made him think about getting a job.

_I think I'd have better luck gambling..._

"So is that a yes?" Tyki asked as Allen forced himself out of bed.

"Mhmm..." Allen hummed and followed Tyki downstairs. It was actually quite a nice house that he had. Just _how _did Tyki get all the money to buy this? _Maybe he's rich..._Allen thought as he followed Tyki into the kitchen. Tyki told him to sit down and he did so, messing with the tablecloth in a bored fashion. In a matter of minutes, a plate of waffles was set down in front of him as well as a bottle of syrup.

"I've already eaten." Tyki said and sat down, _watching _him. Allen gave Tyki a suspicious glance and slowly put a slice of delicious waffle in his mouth.

"...it's rude to stare, you know." Allen said after swallowing another slice. Tyki chuckled.

"Sorry, couldn't help but notice how cute you are." He said coyly. Allen's hand stopped so that his mouth was just hovering over another slice. The words slowly registered in his mind and he found himself blushing.

"E-excuse me? I d-don't think I heard you correctly, what did you say?" Allen asked quietly, his voice failing him. The only people who have ever called him cute were Lenalee and Narain.

"I think you did hear correctly." Tyki said with a sly smirk.

"A-are you sure? Because I swear you just-"

"Called you cute? Yes that's _exactly _what I did. Because you are." Tyki admitted.

"I'm not sure that I feel comfortable with you calling me that..." Allen mumbled and stuffed waffle in his face.

"Why not? The last time I checked people enjoyed it when they were complimented." Tyki said, burying his chin in his palm.

"But...you're..." Allen coughed awkwardly. _Twenty something...then again...Lavi's eighteen..._Allen thought before inwardly shaking his head. Why was he even _thinking _about this?!

"Twenty-one?" Tyki offered and Allen coughed out an awkward 'yeah'. "You're fifteen, right?" He guessed.

"Um...yeah..." Allen mumbled.

"Six years apart. You and Lavi have always been three years apart. It really isn't that bad considering I know someone who likes someone ten years apart." The older hummed in thought. "My mom, when she was alive, married a man ten years older than her but no one really cared. They loved each other, you know?" Tyki was rambling, he knew, but Allen seemed to be listening somewhat. "When is your birthday?"

Well _that _wasn't random at all...

"Uh..." Allen answered intelligently. Tyki chuckled and Allen averted his gaze. "Well...I'm not _completely _sure..." He mumbled.

"Adopted?" Tyki guessed. "Well what day?"

"Um...December 25th..." He muttered, stuffing more waffles in his face. Tyki chuckled at Allen's actions.

"Christmas, huh? I don't know when my birthday is either. You see, I was adopted as well. I'm pretty sure all of my family was." Tyki informed. Allen looked up from his plate curiously. "It's quite difficult, really. Our family tree that is." Tyki said. "It'd take forever to explain. So what's your favorite color?"

_What's with these random questions? _

Despite the fact that they were odd question, Allen answered them none-the-less. "Gray."

"Really? Hm..." Tyki hummed. "Do you have anyone that you like right now?"

"Like as in...?" Allen trailed off invitingly.

"You know what I mean." Tyki said with an amusing smirk. Allen blushed lightly.

"Not really..."

"_Really?" _Tyki hummed again.

"So what's your relationship with Lavi?" He asked.

"I'm a part of their band." Allen answered. Tyki's eyebrows rose.

"Really? What do you play, oh, let me guess, keyboard?" Allen nodded. "What's your father's name?"

"Mana."

"Do you have any other relatives?"

"His brother, Neah..." Allen didn't really like talking about Mana but Tyki was offering him hospitality so he figured he should be polite and answer his questions.

"Neah Walker?" Tyki asked. Allen blinked and tilted his head.

"How do you know Neah?"

"He used to be a relative of ours before he broke off all contact." Tyki answered, sipping his coffee curiously. "You're his nephew then?"

"Yeah..."

"What a coincidence. It _is _a small world."

"I guess."

"So what kind of games do you play? You must play some type of video game or something."

"Um...I don't really play video games. Board games are fun I guess..."

"Cards?" Tyki asked.

"...yeah I play cards."

"What kind?" There was a gleam in his eye that Allen was unsure if he knew whether to trust or not.

Probably not.

"I've played all types of card games." Allen answered and hummed in thought, wondering if it'd scare Tyki away if he told him he illegally cheated men out of their money. "Poker mostly." He said with a sly smirk. Tyki, surprisingly enough, smirked back.

"Oh really?"

"Mhmm. You know what's _really _fun?" Allen asked, the dark side of him starting to show itself. Tyki was a bit surprised with his sudden change of mood.

"Enlighten me." He stated. Allen's smirk widened.

"Watching grown men cry over all the money they've lost. Yes, it _is _quite amusing." Tyki almost laughed. _Looks like he's got a dark side._

"You gamble?" Tyki asked.

"Well how _else _was I supposed to earn money. It's quite easy for a twelve year old to cheat _drunk _men." Tyki's eyebrows shot up.

"Were you poor?"

"Not necessarily." There seemed to be a lot of humming at the table... "You could say that...my..._guardian _was very good at ticking off debt collectors." Allen glowered. Tyki couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh?" Tyki refrained from asking what happened to Mana.

"Cross." Allen muttered bitterly. Tyki recognized the name from somewhere but he couldn't quite place it...

Oh yeah. He owed him money.

"Marian Cross?" Tyki asked, making sure he had the right man.

"Yeah..." Allen answered slowly. "How do _you _know him?"

"He owes me money." Allen felt his stomach churn at those words. Those four words had always followed him wherever he went. It almost seemed like _everyone _owed this man money.

"_Oh." _Allen muttered and pushed his empty plate away.

"You don't have to worry about me asking you to pay me back for him. My father is quite rich so a couple hundred doesn't bother him." Tyki dismissed. "You seem to be in a bit of a crisis right now, huh?" Tyki asked. Allen shrugged and looked away form Tyki.

"He left for a month, Cross that is." Allen informed.

"Then who's feeding you?" Tyki asked. Allen opened his mouth but closed it.

"You know, it's funny you ask that. That's the only reason I was out yesterday."

"Looking for a job?" Tyki questioned.

"That or I could just gamble." Allen said casually. He took a sip of the coffee Tyki gave him and scowled at the bitter taste before pushing it away.

"I could help you if you need it." Tyki commented. Allen raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why would you? We barely know each other and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get anything out of it." _Why are you declining this offer, Allen?! Didn't Cross teach you to _accept _money from people? Wait, why would I ever listen to that bastard?! _

"Would I?" Tyki asked slyly and slid his gloved hand over Allen's. The small blush from before returned to Allen's face. Tyki didn't say _lend _or _loan. _He said _give. _The young teen looked up from their hands at Tyki with a suspicious stare. "You know, I'll see you more often if I give you money, right?" Allen's hand twitched. It wasn't necessarily a _bad _twitch, but it wasn't great as well...he didn't even notice how close Tyki was close to his face until he spoke again. "Isn't it okay for friends to give each other things?" He asked and Allen found himself not wanting to pull away.

It was nice gestures that usually got Allen into trouble. If someone did something small for him, he usually over-appreciated it. Now just think about what _Tyki _was doing. He was _giving him money to survive. _Allen was more than thankful for the gesture. What if he really _was _nicer than Lavi and Allen never knew? He couldn't see any form of dishonesty in the golden eyes that stared back at him. His gaze was completely sincere. Yes, Tyki was creepy, and yes, Tyki kidnapped him, but Allen couldn't help but slowly form a small crush on the man. Yes, he was six years older than Allen, but it could've been worse, right? They could be ten years apart. Was this really okay, though? Tyki obviously liked him back...and it wasn't like they'd live together forever, right? Or what if they did? Would Lavi hate him for it? Probably...what if he tried kicking him out of the band? Countless questions fluttered through his mind like butterflies.

They all flew out the window when Tyki pressed his lips against Allen's.


	10. Dirty Little Secret

**My apologies to those of you who were upset that I put Poker Pair as a minor pairing in here. I can assure you that this will be Laven though. At the end of this chapter is lime-ISH and I _promise _that I won't go any farther than that with this pairing. I know not a lot of people like Poker Pair, but hey, it's better than pairing him with some random character like Chaoji...*winces* I've had similar things that I don't like happening. For example, I don't really like LaviLena/AlLena, but I've seen it in a Laven story before but I ignored it so I'm sure you all can do the same! Anyways, I'd like to thank Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (omgg me too...you're starting to become my favorite reviewer...though I probably shouldn't have favorites...xD), Usagi-Twins, VeridianSoul (Yay for PP *heart*), FallenxLinkin (I'm sorry you might as well get used to it now because I'm known for cliffhangers, they're my thing xD), Assassinationexpert-foxtamer (I'm sorry but I kinda had to...), xXlovinlavenXx (Tyki is very smexy, isn't he? ;P), and InsanityOwl (yay another PP shipper! That makes 4/6. I like these odds.) I didn't realize how much fun writing this would be...oops...it has more chapters than my main stories...uh oh...xD**

* * *

Dating Tyki was really different from dating Lavi, _that _was for sure. Unlike Lavi, he really liked going out on dates to restaurants and movies and such. When he dated Lavi, the teen would claim that those kinds of things were lovey dovey and mushy and he wasn't for that kind of stuff. Not to mention that Tyki was a young adult unlike Allen, who was still a teen, and he was often offered alcoholic drinks at the nice restaurants they went to. Not only that, people thought that he was Tyki's nephew (which he kinda was) or his son and that was flat out awkward. Especially when Tyki explained to the waitress that Allen was his date. Luckily they didn't get any hate for it. Some waitresses thought it was cute, some of them thought it was weird, and some of them thought that Tyki was just pitying him or something.

It'd been a full week and so far and no one had found out. Allen felt bad for keeping his and Tyki's relationship away from his friends and for keeping it away because Tyki probably didn't feel good about that. Who would feel good about someone hiding your relationship because they didn't want anyone to find out? Allen hummed and rested his chin in his hand. Lavi went to get a pack of soda to refill the mini-fridge and practice was almost over anyways. _I wonder if Tyki wants to go on a date tonight...it's been a few days. I'd ask him but it's not like I really would be able to pay for it since I'm dirt poor and _he _pays for everything...I feel like I'm using him..._Allen pouted at his thoughts and took his phone out. _Maybe we can just go somewhere where you don't need money..._he thought and started texting him.

_Sent: Tyki, 4:49pm - Hey, do you want to go somewhere after practice? _

_Received: Tyki, 4:50pm - What's this? You're asking me on a date? Where is my Allen and what have you done with him? _

_Sent: Tyki, 4:51pm- Oh hush. But really, like no movies or dinner just, like..._

_Received: Tyki, 4:51pm - Hang out?_

_Sent: Tyki, 4:52pm - Yeah, like that!_

_Received: Tyki, 4:55pm - I think that may be possible. Is practice ending at five today?_

Allen was just about to answer when Lenalee snuck up behind him.

"Who are you texting~?" She asked and Allen dropped his phone on his feet. He grabbed it and positioned his feet on the floor.

"No one..." He mumbled, embarrassed that he was caught. _She didn't see his name, did she? _

"Wow, Allen, that's actually _really _suspicious." She said blankly. "I really didn't think it was anyone important but you make it seem like you were texting your boyfriend or something...not that you have one." She added. Allen stayed silent, wondering if he should tell them that he had a boyfriend. It wasn't like he had to specify _who _it was. "You have a boyfriend?!" She asked and Allen winced.

"Would you please not be so loud?" Allen asked in a whisper.

"Allen has a boyfriend~ Allen has a boyfriend~" She chanted _loudly. _

"Allen has a boyfriend?" Lavi asked, coming out of nowhere. Allen groaned.

"Great, _now _look what you did. I never _said _I had one..." He trailed off.

"But you implied it!" Lenalee chirped.

"How so?" He questioned. Lenalee shrugged.

"My relationship senses were tingling." She answered. Allen narrowed his eyes at her.

"Never doubt Lenalee's relationship senses." Lavi piped. "So who is it?" He asked, excited about the news.

"Can't tell you. It's a secret." Allen said with a mischievous smile...or what he hoped was a mischievous smile.

"Whyyyy?" Lavi whined, draping his arms over Allen's shoulders.

"Because it just is..." Allen mumbled, averting his gaze.

"Are you afraid we won't accept the person?" Daisya asked, recognizing the look from when he first spoke to Lenalee and Lavi about Kanda, who was thinking about joining. Allen stared at Daisya for a long time. _He doesn't know...he can't know...it'd be impossible for him to know..._he thought. "I know that feeling. It's how I felt when I wanted Kanda to join the band."

"Yeah, I'd be afraid they wouldn't accept _him _either..." Allen muttered.

"The fuck did you say, sprout?" Kanda asked. Allen cleared his throat.

"I said-"

"That's it, I'm killing him." Kanda announced and lunged for him. Allen yelped and dodged his lunge before getting tackled to the ground whilst attempting to running away.

"No, lemme go!" Allen complained, squirming under Kanda, who was grabbing Allen by the chest and laying on his back.

"Take it back." He growled. The other three teens not involved rolled their eyes and sat down to watch.

"You know, we should store popcorn in here." Daisya commented, opening a can of soda that Lavi had brought in earlier ago. The others nodded in agreement and took their own sodas.

"You guys are evil!" Allen snapped, pointing accusingly at them.

"You started it." Lenalee reminded.

"B-but..." Allen pouted and they almost helped him out. "Get off of me you big lug!" He growled and decided that flailing around would make the situation better. He ended up smacking a certain ticked off teen in the face.

"Why you little..." Kanda growled and took his arms before positioning them behind his back painfully.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." Allen whined. The fact that he _still _hadn't got his arm checked out by Bak made it all the more worse.

"You know this is quite interesting." Lavi commented. Daisya nodded in approval. Lenalee sighed, wondering if she should interfere or not. Maybe Allen would actually learn his lesson about picking bones with Kanda if she didn't.

"Okay, okay, seriously, fucking stop!" Allen snapped. Kanda let go, surprised by hearing the vulgar curse come out of his mouth.

"Holy shit..." Lavi muttered. "...he just said 'fucking'."

"He did..." Lenalee whispered, surprised as well. Allen glared at them and cradled his left arm.

"Jerks." He grumbled.

"Oh my god, are you crying?" Daisya asked, snickering a bit.

"It's not funny." He snapped.

"He just admitted it..." Lenalee whispered. Allen's eye twitched. It wasn't _his _fault his wound kept opening up! His arm had to be the most fragile thing in the world...then again...it _was _burned.

"Is something wrong with your arm?" Lavi asked, now curious.

"Yeah, it just got bent all the way to my shoulder and _you _guys didn't do anything about it!" Allen snapped.

"Well you _did _piss Kanda off..." Lenalee said reasonably. Kanda just hmphed and looked away. _Jeez, why does it hurt so bad? _Allen wondered.

"Lemme see it!" Lavi said and touched it.

"No." Allen said flatly.

"But-"

"No."

"Why not?" Lavi whined.

"No!" Allen snapped and pulled out his phone. He had a message from Tyki and it was 5:12pm.

_Sent: Tyki, 5:13pm - Sorry, I was busy fighting off a rabid teenager with anger issues. _

Allen stood up.

"I'm leaving."

"Oh, come on, Allen, it's not that bad..." Daisya drawled.

"He _did _cry..." Lenalee reminded.

"True." Daisya sighed. "Kanda, apologize."

"Fuck you." Kanda growled.

"See you guys tomorrow." Allen muttered and ducked out of the garage. Maybe he was wrong about Kanda...then again, it probably wouldn't have hurt so much if he had a _normal _arm. His right arm didn't hurt at all, it was just a temporary pain and it was now gone. His left arm still ached though...Allen walked in his house, closing the door, and sat on the couch. He rolled up his sleeve and warily unwrapped the bandages around the cut. He resisted the urge to throw up as the area around the slice was a nasty purplish color. "Oh crap..." He said softly and texted Bak.

_Received: Tyki, 5:14pm - Kanda, I'm guessing?_

_Sent: Tyki, 5:23pm - Yeah..._

_Sent: Bak, 5:25pm - I was kind of pinned by a ticked off guy um...and my arm is starting to turn purple. Is this normal? _

_Received: Bak, 5:25pm - Picture._

That was quick...

Allen lifted his sleeve and winced again. With slight difficulty, he took a picture and sent it to Bak. Right after the photo actually sent, Bak called him. Allen groaned, hoping it wasn't too bad, and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Allen, we really need to schedule an appointment." He said seriously.

"Um...how about tomorrow...uh...at six?" Allen asked. Bak was silent for a little and Allen could hear shuffling in the background as he spoke.

"Why at six? Why not at ten in the morning or something?" Bak asked.

"Because Neah will probably be asleep and I'll need a ride tomorrow...unless...um can you hold on one second?" Allen asked and pressed the 'menu' button on his phone to text a certain someone.

"Yeah sure, I'm just looking through my agenda." _More like agendas..._Allen thought.

_Sent: Tyki, 5:31pm - Do you want to just leave at six? Sorry, I'm actually on the phone right now...um, I have a favor to ask of you...maybe?_

_Received: Tyki, 5:33pm - That's fine, what's the favor? Anything for you, boy._

_Sent: Tyki, 5:34pm - ...I don't really want to explain, but...can you take me to the hospital tomorrow? If you're busy I can ask Neah...or someone else...(I don't really want to ask either Neah or any of the band because I know they'll ask what's up)_

_Received: Tyki, 5:36pm - The hospital? Sure, are you alright? Did Kanda do something?_

_Sent; Tyki, 5:36pm - Ah, no, it's about my 'fainting spell problem'. _

_Received: Tyki, 5:37pm - Ah, I see. Sure, what time?_

"So, is ten o' clock open?" Allen asked.

"Ten sharp, Allen." Bak said scornfully. Allen rolled his eyes.

_Sent: Tyki, 5:38pm - I have to be there by ten..._

_Received: Tyki, 5:38pm - You got it. _

_Sent: Tyki, 5:39pm - Thank you!_

_Received: Tyki, 5:39pm - Anything for you_

Allen blushed at that last text.

"I will."

"Okay, good. Goodnight, Allen."

"Night, Bak." Allen said and hung up.

Was it weird that he called his doctor by his first name? He knew his doctor really well...ever since he was little, the man was supporting him. He actually had to see him regularly as a therapist before he dated Lavi because his life had been depressing despite the fact that Mana was alive. The night Allen left for England, he had a thorough talk with him, telling him that no matter how rough he had it now, it'd always get better. Allen was unsure of what would've happened to him if he didn't have Bak to encourage him...

_Received: Tyki, 5:42pm - So where do you want to hang out?_

_Sent: Tyki, 5:43pm - Um...I dunno..._

_Received: Tyki, 5:43pm - We could hang at my house...or we could hang out outside near the park. _

_Sent: Tyki, 5:45pm - The one downtown by the duck pond?_

_Received: Tyki, 5:46pm - Yeah, you know it?_

_Sent: Tyki, 5:46pm - Mhmm. _

_Received: Tyki, 5:47pm - Okay, so do you want to walk to a nearby store so the others won't see us?_

_Sent: Tyki, 5:48pm - Sure. I'll be on my way in a minute..._

_Received: Tyki, 5:49pm - Same. _

Allen ran to his room and undressed from his casual clothes and pulled on something formal. Formal as in the outfit he wore the night he came back from England. He wondered if he was overdressed for a second...then again, they were just hanging out...they weren't going to a restaurant. Frustrated, Allen threw his clothes off and searched for something casual...which he couldn't find because _someone _decided to distribute them all to charity and replace them with his old clothes. Allen sighed and searched through his clothes before finding a decent shirt. It was a Paramore shirt but hey, he had jackets for a reason. Wasn't it natural for him to wear something like this anyways? He _was _in a band after all...Allen shook his head and pulled on a pair of white skinny jeans and his boots. He then grabbed his jacket and zipped it up. Yes, he could've just put on the clothes he had before, but he was pretty sure the shirt was covered in dust from when Kanda tackled him to the floor, not only _that _but he had been sweating (yeah, ew) and he couldn't really take a shower at the moment.

Allen looked at the time and quickly ran out of his house before lightly walking past Lavi's house.

If only it was that easy.

"Yo, Allen! Where're ya going?!" Lavi called. Allen's eye twitched.

"None of your business!" Allen snapped and kept walking.

And then Lavi started _following _him.

"Awe, come on, lil' buddy, you're not still upset about what happened with Kanda, are you?" Lavi asked. Allen glared at him.

"You sat there and _watched _why _wouldn't _I be angry about that?" Allen asked with a scowl.

"But but...neither did Lenalee..." Lavi mumbled.

"If Lenalee told you to jump off a bridge, would you? Never mind, don't answer that, you'd probably just jump off it period." Allen grumbled and Lavi chuckled.

"If there was water at the bottom I totally would."

"I _know _you would." Allen paused in his walking and looked at Lavi. "_Why _are you following me?"

"Um...because I want to?" Lavi guessed and Allen narrowed his eyes at him.

"Leave me alone."

"Oh! Are you going on a date? That's perfect 'cause then I can meet your boyfriend!" Lavi said excitedly. Allen groaned.

"You are a total idiot, aren't you?" Allen asked. Lavi gave him a questionable gaze. "You _do _realize that you're my ex, right?"

"...oh yeah...wow...I totally forgot..." Lavi muttered, honestly surprised with himself. "But you're just so different!"

"Yeah, Lavi, people _change." _Allen said, letting a small smile grace his lips.

"Really? Have I changed?"

"Sadly enough, no." Allen sighed jokingly.

"You wound me, Allen, you really do." Lavi replied, holding his hand over his heart.

"Good to know. Can you leave now?" Allen asked, looking around for Tyki's car.

"Nope."

"Can I hit you?" Allen asked seriously. He _really _wanted to hit Lavi.

"Whyyyy?" Lavi whined, laying his head on Allen's shoulder. Allen shrugged him off and glowered as Lavi rubbed his cheek.

"Well, for _one, _you're insensitive to others' feelings, and you didn't help me when Kanda nearly ripped my arm off!" Allen growled.

"Me, insensitive?! Where did _that _come from!?" Lavi grumbled. Allen stared at him for a long time.

"Oh, yeah, not to mention annoying and whiny." Allen said that part jokingly and Lavi pouted.

"I'm not whiny!" He whined.

"Sure you aren't." Allen replied sarcastically. "So I can punch you, right?"

"But Lenalee and Daisya could've helped too!" Lavi complained.

"I can hit Daisya too but I'm pretty sure I'd be murdered if I hit Lenalee. Not to mention she's a girl...and she's nice...and _not _annoying...and she _doesn't _whine."

"Alleeeeeeeen..." Lavi groaned.

"You don't have any sense of personal space, do you?" Allen asked.

"_I _don't have any personal space? If I remember correctly, _Narain _was the one that had you at his hip." Lavi grumbled.

"He's my best friend." Allen said reasonably.

"But, but, I'm your friend too!"

"Not my best friend."

"Awe...but I'm _everyone's _best friend!"

"Lavi. Leave." Allen demanded when he saw Tyki's car parked at a nearby store.

"Whyyyyyy?"

"Lavi, if you do not leave, I _will _hit you."

"Whyyyyyy?"

"Because you deserve it; and besides, I have to hit _one _of you for not helping me."

"But, Allen, it shouldn't have even hurt! Kanda was just playing around! If you'd just let me look at your arm-"

"Lavi." Allen interrupted. He gave Lavi a warning glare.

"Ugh, fine, fine! I'm going!" Lavi announced, but didn't move. He suddenly lunged at Allen and said teen yelped.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Allen growled and kneed Lavi in the gut. Lavi howled and grabbed his stomach, sinking to the floor.

"Y-you just kneed me!" Lavi cried.

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Now go away and take care of your stomach."

"I can't believe it! You actually kneed me! I thought you were nice!"

"I _tried _to be nice, Lavi. You were being persistent." Allen said, stubbornly crossing his arms.

"I was just tryna heeeelp. Jeeeerk."

"_I'm _a jerk? Who was the one that decided that they didn't care if their friend's arm got ripped off? Oh yeah and remind me again who thought it was fun to play around with peoples' hearts!" Lavi's eyes widened at that and he looked up to see Allen storming off. He grumbled as he climbed into Tyki's car and buckled his seat-belt.

"Well _that _was interesting." Tyki commented, backing out of the parking lot.

"He's a jerk." Allen mumbled quietly, ignoring the tears that were threatening to fall.

Honestly, when Allen came back from England, he had just got over Lavi. Even when he was with Narain, he still thought about Lavi, which was why they broke it off in the first place, and now Lavi had him thinking about those thoughts again. It made him think about the truth...Lavi admitted that he liked him, but then Lenalee told him that he had gotten over him in a month even if he didn't date for another two years. He got over Allen in a _month _when Allen hadn't gotten over him in _years. __I shouldn't be thinking about this while on a date with Tyki..._Allen thought and sighed.

"So, what's new?" Tyki asked amusingly. Allen raised an eyebrow at him. "You're in Brightdown, right? What have you been doing?"

"Oh! We've actually been working on a new song lately...we'll probably have it done by next week." Allen informed.

"A new song, hm? How many do you guys have so far?" Allen shrugged and looked out the window.

"Not sure, I mean, I just joined..." Allen mumbled.

"I see. Well, we're here." Tyki said and parked the car. Allen unbuckled his seat-belt and Tyki copied his movements and they both got out of the car. Tyki had apparently made food for this sooner because he took a basket out of the car. Allen groaned. "You're groaning _because _I brought food? Are you really Allen?"

"Of _course _I am. It's just..." Allen trailed off. "You're always giving me things though..."

"Of _course _I am. I _am _your boyfriend after all." Tyki said with a smirk.

"But I don't get you things..." Allen muttered.

"That's because you're poor." Tyki pointed out.

"Thanks. I definitely needed to hear that." The younger grumbled and Tyki chuckled before ruffling his hair.

"Besides, it's for the _both _of us. It's not like I was about to bring food for myself and make you watch me eat it. That would be torture, especially for you." Tyki said amusingly and shut the door. Allen followed him and they sat under a rather large tree.

They both ate, bringing up random subjects from time to time. It was really nice to just sit outside and just talk for awhile. Even if Allen _did _live right next to Lavi, it was still lonely. Cross hadn't come back yet of course so it was a bit lonely. He really wished that he could at least have a pet. It was when Allen started talking about the competition that he received a text message. He apologized and took his phone out and stared at the message curiously. He tilted his head at the message.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 6:48pm - Are you okay? _

Shaking his head, Allen pocketed the phone and continued his story. "...and well, they didn't have a third song to play so I had to..." Allen paused again when his phone rang again. He frowned and picked it up.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 6:59pm - Allen, are you alright? _

Allen slowly put the phone down.

"You had to...?" Tyki asked invitingly.

"Right, well, you see, when I left for England and I actually went to a public school, we had a musical project where we had to write a song and write the music and everything. We were put in groups of course since not all of us could play different instruments, and I had to lend them the song that I played there. At the time I was actually...um, I guess you could say a solo player so I had help from teachers..." Allen muttered, trailing off when his phone rang yet again.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:07pm - Well?_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:08pm - I'm fine, Lenalee, why are you asking?_

Allen put the phone down. "Weird..." He commented.

"Who's texting you?" Tyki asked before putting a chip in his mouth.

"Lenalee. She doesn't text me often...I wonder what's up..." Allen hummed and took a sip of his soda.

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:10pm - I just talked to Lavi._

Allen's eye twitched.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:10pm - Oh really? Sounds interesting._

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:11pm - Um, yeah...he said you brought something up from the past...he wouldn't tell me what though...was it when you left us?_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:12pm - I'm not talking about this. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:12pm - :( why not?_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:13pm - You do realize that you wouldn't have even known in the first place if Lavi didn't open his stupid mouth, right?_

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:14pm - Well I'd rather you guys not fight since we have to work together tomorrow..._

"I'm sorry..." Allen mumbled as he thought about what to text her back.

"It's no problem. While you're doing that, I need to call someone." Tyki said and pulled out his own phone. He walked off and Allen wondered briefly how important it was since he needed to walk away.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:18pm - I'm not fighting. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:18pm - You might..._

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:19pm - No, I won't. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:20pm - You sure?_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:20pm - I keep forgetting that you're used to Kanda picking fights with everyone. Yes, Lenalee, I won't fight. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:21pm - Kanda isn't here to hear/see your insult..._

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:22pm - Your point?_

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:23pm - Um...I dunno...I just thought you did that stuff to piss him off..._

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:23pm - Purposely piss off Kanda? Me? No way. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:24pm - Allen. _

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:24pm - I do believe this talk is over, Lenalee. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:25pm - I'm not done talking..._

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:26 - I suppose Lavi didn't bother to mention I was going on a date, did he? _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:27pm - OH! I'm SO sorry! I didn't realize you were on a date...my bad...um, we'll talk later!  
_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:27pm - I doubt that. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:28pm - :P right, well, we don't have school tomorrow because of a meeting for teachers or something so, did you want to join us for breakfast around, say...ten? _

Allen wanted to face palm so hard.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:31pm - Oh...I would, but...um...I'm busy then tomorrow..._

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:32pm - Oh...what are you doing then?_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:32pm - Um...I'd rather not say anyways, if you guys are still there I'd probably be able to make it there around eleven..._

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:34pm - O.o um...okaaay...I'll just text you and see if it happens, okay? _

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 7:35pm - Okay, goodnight, Lenalee. _

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 7:35pm - Night, Allen! Have fun on your date ;)_

Allen resisted the urge to roll his eyes and put his phone in his pocket and waited for Tyki to come back. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the tree. Would he ever tell the others who he was dating? He didn't really know...what he _did _know was that Lavi and especially Kanda would be really ticked off about it. But Tyki was a changed man..._not to mention he's an adult and six years older than you..._a voice in the back of his mind said. Allen sighed, was it really that bad of him to do so? Was is really that weird? Allen didn't really know right from wrong when it came to dating since he never really talked about it with anyone...

"Excuse me." A quite snobby voice growled and Allen opened his eyes to see a man with long black hair in a ponytail and golden eyes. If he would've been any younger, Allen might have mistook him for Tyki. His facial features were a little different...Allen narrowed his eyes for a closer look..._then again, maybe not..._he had quite a stern look to his face and he wore a _monocle. _"You're Allen Walker, correct?" He sniffed.

"Um...?" Allen answered intelligently. The man took a hold of his right arm and dragged him across the field. "U-uh, where are we going?" _Wow, Allen, nice one; maybe a 'who are you?' would be a better question?_

"Shut up." Sheryl growled. Allen frowned and pulled his hand out of the man's grip. He received a glare in response.

"I apologize, but I don't really let strangers drag me around. Who are you?" Allen asked. He shouted out when the man actually tried to _punch _him.

"Well, at least you know how to _dodge." _He said disappointingly. "My name is Sheryl Camelot and you're insane if you think we can get along!" He snapped and tried to hit him again. Allen was used to people trying to hit him (_wow that sounded just lovely) _so he could easily dodge Sheryl's throws.

"Sheryl! What do you think you're doing?!" Allen looked behind him and saw Tyki strutting over.

"You know, Mr. Walker, you should never turn away from your opponent." Sheryl muttered and Allen looked over, only to have a fist collide with his face. Allen stumbled back and Tyki managed to catch him before he hit the ground. The younger boy looked around blearily.

"Sheryl! How dare you!" Tyki growled. Sheryl hmphed. "When we get home, we're having a talk, _little brother." _

"W-whoa...didn't see that one comin'." Allen mumbled and touched his lip lightly. "Quite literally actually..." He added. Tyki really tried not to laugh, but Allen wasn't taking this seriously enough. Tyki helped Allen back to the car and took his chin into his hand.

"Look at me." Allen looked over lazily at Tyki. Tyki rubbed Allen's lip where it had split and started to bleed at the corner. Allen winced. Tyki gave him an apologetic and guilty look.

"I'm sorry, he's _really _protective of us..."

"'S alright..." Allen mumbled. Tyki's thumb trailed from the lip to Allen's jawline and then it graced over Allen's cheek affectionately. He leaned over and kissed him. Allen winced a bit because of his lip but he kissed him back. They both jumped when there was a banging on the window.

It was Sheryl.

Tyki sighed and shifted the gears in reverse before harshly pulling out of the parking lot. Sheryl glared at them and shouted something they couldn't hear before Tyki managed to get on the road. Allen leaned back in his seat and sighed. Obstacles seemed to love getting in the way of his relationships...Tyki parked at the store from before and they were both completely silent. "Get in the backseat." Tyki said before climbing out of the car and getting in the backseat, searching for something to patch Allen up with. Allen shrugged and got out before also climbing in the backseat. Tyki managed to find a small bandage and Allen sat closer. Tyki tilted his chin and licked the blood off and Allen blushed deeply. _Um...is this really necessary? _Allen wondered as his lip twitched. Tyki chuckled a little before applying the bandage to his lip. "You're so cute."

"Am not." Allen muttered, blushing deeper. Tyki cupped his cheek and brought it up to kiss him. The teen closed his eyes and kissed him back as well, ignoring the small pain through his mouth.

Allen's heartbeat quickened when he felt Tyki's _tongue _on his lips. He couldn't explain how terrified he was that he'd mess up when Tyki deepened the kiss. Allen had actually felt himself starting to lean against the car door and wrapped his arms around Tyki's neck to get a better angle. The two parted and Allen panted as Tyki unzipped his jacket to lick his neck. He gave Allen an amusing chuckle at the shirt and Allen rolled his eyes lazily. The teen couldn't explain why it felt so _good _when Tyki placed open mouthed kisses to his neck. His eyes darted to the time and it was already 8:57pm...

"...Tyki..." Allen slurred. Tyki drew back from him, licking his lips.

"Hm?"

"It's almost nine..." Allen mumbled. Tyki gave him an awkward smile before placing one last kiss to his lips. They bid each other good bye and Allen zipped his jacket back up as he headed towards his house with a blush on his face. He felt so restless yet exhausted at the same time when he collapsed on his couch. _I need a shower..._Allen told himself and forced himself to get up. He walked to the bathroom and didn't even bother getting clothes and hopped in the shower, humming to himself happily.

Who knew that a few hours could completely turn his mood around?


	11. Titanium

**Um so I got bored after posting chapter 10 and just decided to work on the next chapter...who knew that I'd finish it in 3 hours? :D Is there a holiday today? Yes! There is! Don't ask me how I know this. Happy Juneteenth everyone ;D Thank you to Nora678, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (I particularly like PP one-shots...I don't know what it is about them, but they're always cute x3), and VeridianSoul (if you said 'oh buuurn' to that, just wait until you see the burn that's coming up ;P) for reviewing!**

* * *

Allen was glad that Lavi and the others weren't outside when Tyki came to pick him up for his hospital trip the next morning. The teen was tired and Tyki let him take a nap on the way there. He didn't question what was wrong when Bak told him to stay outside. Allen did get a message from Lenalee saying that they were currently at Denny's eating breakfast. For now, Allen ignored the message and took off his shirt for Bak to examine his arm. Currently he was poking near the cut that still never bothered to close. Bak looked up from where he was poking at Allen's annoyed face.

"Well, I think for now just try putting this on it." Bak said and placed a container of some sort of healing cream beside him. "Put it on after you wake up and then again around the afternoon." Bak instructed and twisted the lid off to apply some to the cut. "It's going to hurt a little..." Allen flinched when he felt the cool ointment _burn _his arm.

"If by a little you mean _like a thousand burning suns _then okay." Allen grumbled. Bak chuckled and wrapped a bandage around Allen's arm.

"It should close up in a week and if you faint again make sure you come back as soon as you can, alright?" Bak asked. Allen nodded his head and slipped his jacket on, zipping it up. Bak felt a small smirk slide on his face. "By the way, you might want to _keep _that jacket on. Don't want anyone to see that mark, do we?" Allen fought his hardest against the blush but it wasn't working. He grumbled and pulled the collar past his shoulders embarrassingly. Bak laughed as Allen left the room. Tyki gave him an amused smirk before standing up and walking off. Allen followed him out into the car, absentmindedly playing with the container of cream in his hand.

"So how did it go?" Tyki asked.

"H-huh?" Allen asked, looking up at Tyki as they walked to his car.

"Your appointment."

"Oh...yeah...it was fine. Everything should be fine in a week..." He mumbled and waited for Tyki to unlock the doors as they arrived to the car. He pulled out his phone and decided to text Lenalee back.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 10:12am - You guys still there?_

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 10:14am - *sigh* we haven't even ORDERED yet. _

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 10:15am - Okay._

"So, are you still going to go hang out with your friends?" Tyki asked as he started the car. Allen nodded his head shortly. "Where at?"

"Denny's." Allen answered.

"Got it." Tyki hummed and drove him there. He turned on the radio to break the silence and they arrived to the restaurant shortly after. Allen unbuckled his seat-belt and Tyki spoke up. "By the way, if you have my name in your phone, you might want to change it. Lavi's quite a curious one. As well as the others." Allen opened his mouth but closed it and pulled out his phone to change it to 'TM'.

"Th-thanks for the ride..." Allen mumbled and got out. Tyki beckoned him to come over on the other side. Allen hummed and walked on the other side. Tyki rolled down his window and Allen leaned against the car. "What is i-" Allen was cut off when Tyki gave him a quick kiss.

"I'll see you later, boy."

Allen blushed and lightly touched his lips. "O-oh...uh...okay..." Tyki smirked before rolling up his window and driving away.

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 10:17am - I'm here...did you guys order yet?_

_Received: Lenalee Lee, 10:18am - NO WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR LAVI TO SHUT UP ABOUT HIS LONG STORY ABOUT I FORGET WHAT!_

_Sent: Lenalee Lee, 10:19am - xD good to know he stalled for time?_

Allen walked in the entrance and quickly found where they were seating because of how loudly Lavi was speaking. The topic was changing randomly and Allen chose then to sneak beside Lenalee. Daisya was too busy banging his head on the table to notice, Kanda was glaring at the ceiling, Lavi was talking the waitresses ear off, and Lenalee was just glaring at Lavi. Allen knew the pain five minutes later when Lavi was _still _talking and none of them noticed his presence. Allen laid his head in his hand and waited for Lavi to shut up. Luckily, the waitress was getting tired of his story too.

"Excuse me, but you've been talking for about twenty minutes and I'm sure the five of you would like to order now..." She said awkwardly. Lavi's mouth snapped shut and he tilted his head.

"Five of us?" He questioned and looked over. "Wh...what...when did you..." Lavi shook his head and looked away from Allen and at the waitress. "Alright." All of them ordered and sat in awkward silence. It was only awkward because Lavi didn't know what to talk about because of Allen's presence and Lavi usually _never _shut up so it made everyone else quiet as well.

"Hey, Allen..." Lenalee mumbled, looking under the table curiously. Allen looked over at her curiously.

"Hm?" He hummed.

"...did you..." She trailed off and looked up and looked back down. Allen frowned at her confusingly.

"What?"

"...why were you in the hospital?" Lenalee asked quietly but everyone still heard her because of the awkward silence. Allen opened his mouth and closed it before blushing.

He still had his hospital bracelet on...and he tried so hard to not let them know.

"Erm..." He mumbled awkwardly and looked anywhere but them. "...my fainting problem..."

"Oh...wait you're still fainting?" She asked.

"Can we talk about something else...?" He asked, his hand muffling the question as he laid on it.

"Wait, then what happened to your face?" Lavi blurted. Allen blinked several times. He was a bit surprised that Lavi was actually _talking _to him to begin with. He then narrowed his eyes.

"What's wrong with my face?"

"Everything..." Kanda muttered and Allen's eye twitched. Daisya snickered quietly in his corner and Kanda smirked Allen's way. Allen glared at him and Kanda wasn't afraid to glare right back.

"Your mouth, Allen." Lenalee said, kicking Kanda under the table. The raven-haired teen grunted and looked away.

"My...mouth?" Allen asked, touching his mouth. "Oh!...that...uh..." Allen trailed off, messing around with his bandage.

"Your new boyfriend isn't abusive, is he?" She asked worriedly. Allen shook his head slowly.

"No, but his brother is."

"Allen! You picked a fight with his brother?!" She scolded.

"No! I didn't do anything to him! He's just protective or something..." Allen muttered and looked towards the kitchen, wondering when their food would get here.

"Oh...?" She wondered if she should be more concerned or not. "So how was your date?" She asked and all eyes were on him. Allen flushed pink and didn't make eye contact with any of them.

"It went well, I guess..." He mumbled, pulling on his jacket by habit. The waitress came by and dropped off their drinks, claiming that their food would be here soon.

"You _guess? _What did you do, sit at his house and make out or something?" Lavi asked lamely. Allen's eye twitched several times.

"No, we just had dinner is all." Allen muttered, glaring at Lavi.

"Eh? That sounds boring...you have a weird taste in guys." Lavi said a bit too bitterly.

"I agree, I did date _you _after all." Allen replied, taking a sip of his sweet tea. Daisya's jaw dropped.

"Buuuuuuurn!" He said, laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach. Lenalee tried to stifle her giggling, but you could see the small smile behind her hand as she tried to cover up her mouth. Kanda simply snorted. Lavi's eyebrow twitched and he glared in Allen's direction. Allen gave him a satisfying smirk back. "Oh man, Lavi, sorry to laugh but _that _was hilarious." Daisya said, his laughter dying down to chuckles.

"At least _I_ didn't run away." Lavi said hatefully. Allen's smirk turned into a frown and he glared at Lavi.

"At least _I _don't play around with others' feelings." Allen snapped back. The joyful aura quickly turned into one that was full of hate.

"Funny, it didn't seem that way when you were hanging out with Narain." Lavi growled.

"Maybe you don't know what the two words of 'best friend' mean. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't." Allen retorted. Lenalee sighed. She _knew _this was going to happen.

"Best friends don't casually ask each other out and shoot each other down like it's the most nonchalant thing in the world." Lavi countered. Allen opened his mouth but closed it when the waitress came with their food. Allen just ate quietly while Lenalee, Kanda, Daisya, and Lavi made little chatter. Honestly, Allen just wanted to leave. Yeah, he was ticked off at Lavi, but he was also upset. Upset in the hurt kind of way. He inwardly sighed and tuned into the conversation as he slowly nibbled on a fry.

"...really need to figure out a place to perform at. It's the only thing to do to get more popular." Lenalee said, her manager skills kicking into gear.

"We could play at the school." Daisya offered. "Charge tickets for like three dollars or something...you know how the students are, they hate expensive things and besides, I'm sure our friends would spread the word."

Right..._they _were the popular kind of people.

"I dunno, Daisya, we'd have to ask the principal if that'd be okay." Lenalee mumbled uncertainly.

"You're friends with Road, aren't you Lenalee? Mr. Camelot probably likes you." Allen choked on his food at that. _C-Camelot? _No one seemed to notice Allen's pale composure as they spoke about this principal of theirs.

"Yeah, but he doesn't like Lavi...or Kanda for that matter. Remember when Kanda beat up Tyki for trying to like murder you guys?" Lenalee reminded. Allen's gut twisted. Now just how ironic was _this _situation?

"Oh yeah..." Daisya mumbled. He looked over at Allen, remembering the time Tyki beat Lavi and him up. He deadpanned when he noticed that Allen was massaging his chest. "Uh, you alright over there?" Daisya asked.

"Peachy." Allen replied, disgruntled.

"Okay...well, what else are we going to do?" Daisya asked Lenalee. Allen's phone buzzed and Allen pulled it out, eating a fry whilst texting Tyki.

_Received: TM, 10:39am - How's the hangout? _

_Sent: TM, 10:39am - Oh, you know, just choking while everyone is talking casually. _

_Received: TM, 10:40am - ...sounds fun?_

_Sent: TM, 10:40am - ...I didn't know your brother was a principal..._

_Received: TM, 10:41am - Where did that come from?_

_Sent: TM, 10:42am - They're talking about where to perform and suggested the school. _

_Received: TM, 10:43am - You guys aren't going to perform at the school are you...?_

_Sent: TM, 10:43am - Nope. Apparently he hates Kanda and Lavi too...hmm I wonder why. _

_Received: TM, 10:44am - ..._

_Sent: TM, 10:48am - So what are you doing? _

_Received: TM, 10:52am - ...talking to Sheryl..._

_Sent: TM, 10:52am - ...oh..._

Allen wanted to laugh at the way they were awkwardly texting.

_Sent: TM, 10:53am - ...I'm afraid to ask, but what about?_

_Received: TM, 10:55am - ...he wants us to break up..._

Allen deadpanned at the message. What was he supposed to say?

_Sent: TM, 10:56am - ...oh..._

_Received: TM, 10:57am - ...yeah._

Allen dipped his fry in ranch and wondered what he and Tyki were going to do about Sheryl. Would Tyki really break up with him because Sheryl wanted them to? If Neah wanted him to break up with someone he probably wouldn't do it...then again, it seems like Tyki and Sheryl are really close to each other. They are brothers after all...what if it'd be better to break up with Tyki for his sake? Allen didn't want to hurt their family ties...maybe he should sit down and talk with Tyki about it...he didn't want to break up with Tyki at all, they were just now starting to get serious...but would it really be worth it to get in the way of him and his brother just so _he _could have a boyfriend? Allen frowned; everything seemed to be telling them to break up...

_Sent: TM, 11:12am - Well?_

_Received: TM, 11:13am - He just left..._

_Sent: TM, 11:13am - ...oh..._

_Sent: TM, 11:16am - ...do you think we should break up?_

_Received: TM, 11:17am - Nah, he's always like this. _

_Sent: TM, 11:18am - Are you sure? I don't want you two to get in a fight because of me..._

_Received: TM, 11:19am - I don't think you should be worrying about our family ties. What you should be worried about is meeting him in public. He's quite a popular man and a lot of people know him. He has all kinds of connections. _

_Sent: TM, 11:21am - It'd probably be best if you DIDN'T scare me into breaking up with you..._

_Received: TM, 11:22am - Hey, just avoid him and you'll be fine. _

_Sent: TM, 11:22am - What if he tries to kill me..._

_Received: TM, 11:23am - Then just make sure that someone is with you every time you go out._

_Sent: TM, 11:25am - ...doesn't that seem a little bit extreme? And who would I go outside with? If I took Lenalee or one of the others with me he'd tell them that we're dating..._

_Received: TM, 11:26am - ...you have a good point..._

_Sent: TM, 11:27am - Not helping. _

"Huh, well speak of the devil..." Daisya muttered and Allen slowly looked up from his phone to see _Sheryl _there.

_Sent: TM, 11:28am - ...your brother is here..._

_Received: TM, 11:29am - ...I'm omw. _

_Sent: TM, 11:31am - That isn't scary at all. _

Allen felt himself shrinking into the seat, watching Sheryl's every move carefully. Lenalee stared at him curiously. The teen blanched as he saw him sit down a few tables away. _I'm so dead...so dead...yep, he's going to look over here and oh my god he's going to try and kill me..._Lenalee tilted her head at him. "Hey, Allen, do you want t to switch spots?"

"Huh?" Allen questioned, looking at her curiously.

"I want to be on the outside...I need to talk to Lavi about something." She explained.

"Oh...um...okay..." Allen said and stood up to let her out. _Oh my god, Lenalee, thank you I think I love you. _Allen thought as they switched their trays and he sat on the inside. Lavi looked at her expectantly and she leaned over to whisper a question about if Denny's would hire her or not. Lavi was curious why she'd ask _him _of all people since he couldn't get a job himself but he shrugged at her question. Allen's phone buzzed and he looked down at it.

_Received: TM, 11:41am - I'm here, where is he sitting?_

_Sent: TM, 11:42am - Like, four tables away from us..._

_Received: TM, 11:43am - Ah, okay, I see..._

"Wow, that's _really _ironic. Look." Daisya said, pointing at Tyki, who was sitting down in front of Sheryl with his back to them, intending to block his view. Allen sweat dropped and couldn't help but smile a little.

_Sent: TM, 11:44am - Genius, Tyki, simply genius. _

Tyki's phone rang and Allen wanted to hit his head on the table. Sheryl cautiously watched him pick it up. Tyki chuckled a bit and shook his head before putting the phone down. Allen inwardly pouted when he didn't text back. _Now _what was he supposed to do, listen to Lavi's boring stories for another hour? Allen grumpily ate his fries and tried getting interested in Lavi's tale of going to China. He swore he was going to fall asleep _while _eating. At least Daisya was interested. Lenalee pretended to be interested and Kanda...well Kanda was just Kanda. _I think my ears are bleeding..._Allen thought.

"I'll be right back guys, I gotta use the bathroom!" Lavi chirped.

_Thank god. _

"Awe, man, at the best part?!" Daisya whined.

"Gotta love them cliffhangers." Lenalee commented, forcing a smile. They all watched as he got up and left to the bathroom.

"Finally the idiot shut up." Kanda grumbled.

"You didn't like the story, Kanda?" Daisya questioned.

"Fuck no."

"I think for once I actually _agree _with you." Allen muttered. He felt more awake now that Lavi had actually left. He finished off his food and the waitress came by, delivering their desserts. Allen was just about to dig in until a commotion erupted from behind them.

They all looked back to see Sheryl towering over Lavi threateningly. Tyki stood up as well with a sigh. Allen pulled at his hair. Kanda stood up as well as Daisya. Lenalee sat still, but glared at Sheryl. Lavi said something that had to push him over the edge and he actually tried _punching _him. In a _restaurant. _Kanda took a step forward but they all froze when Tyki caught Sheryl's wrist and dug his nails into it quite painfully. "Now, now, Sheryl, I think you have punched _enough _people this week." He said in a sickly sweet voice. Lenalee had stood up to make sure Lavi was alright. Sheryl seethed at Tyki and muttered something before storming away. Tyki pocketed his hands and stood there quite awkwardly. Lavi stared at him for a _very _long time. _  
_

"Why did you...?" Lavi trailed off, shaking his head confusingly.

"Hm?" Tyki hummed, looking at him.

"You...you just..."

Lavi was so confused.

"Well, I figured you didn't need _another _person to hit you. Not to mention he doesn't need to go around hitting my boyfriend's friend." Allen's jaw dropped and he shook his head at Tyki warily.

"Huh?" Lavi deadpanned.

"Oops, did I say that out loud?" Tyki said with a smirk.

Lavi was _beyond _confused.

"Wha?"

"I think what Lavi means is thank you." Lenalee said with a smile. "Would you like to have breakfast with us?" Lenalee asked, gesturing to their table. Tyki made eye contact with Allen.

"Oh I'd _love _to."


	12. Secrets

**Sorry I haven't updated for awhile! I was at my dad's, and every time I try to get on the computer, someone always comes in a checks on me every ten minutes for some reason...I was about to update this last night, but Tumblr made me stay up until 5am...anyways, thank you FallenxLinkin (yeah, sorry, I have a habit of leaving things on cliffhangers x3), Nora678, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (I think you meant Guetta, but I'm giving it to you anyways xD), VeridianSoul, Sparkle-de-Cat, InsanityOwl, Usagi-Twins (you're wrong, Poker Pair is a yesyes ;3), PassingBye, BlackCherryCookie (muahahaha I have converted someone to Poker Pair! xD), fanboygirl, Sora Arashitori (your reviews are so cute...I just wanna keep you...in the non-pedophilia way xD), and TriforceNinja for reviewing! If you guessed any of the song titles' artists, don't forget to check out my profile and don't forget to guess the artist for this title :D**

* * *

Tyki sat across from him with the most annoying smirk on his face.

Lavi was partly glaring at Tyki, but partly _not _glaring because Tyki did block that punch for him. His face mostly showed mild confusion. Lenalee felt a bit awkward about this and sat next to Allen while Kanda sat on her other side because he didn't want to sit in the same booth as Tyki. Daisya sat next to Tyki and Lavi sat next to Daisya and overall, it was a bit awkward. Allen sneakily pulled out his phone and started texting Tyki.

_Sent: TM, 11:38am - I thought we were keeping this a secret..._

Tyki, luckily, had his phone on vibrate and pulled it out under the table just as Allen did and kept it away from Daisya's prying eyes. He smirked down at the message and looked up at Allen, who was waiting impatiently for him to reply back.

_Received: TM, 11:41am - Relax, we are, but that doesn't mean I can't try to gain their trust first. Think about it, if they come to like me, then they won't mind us dating. _

Allen tilted his head at the message. That...actually wasn't a bad idea...but what if they found out beforehand?

_Received: TM, 11:42am - I'll try my best for them not to find out but in the meantime, we can't do anything around them. _

Allen blushed and took a bite of his pie.

_Sent: TM, 11:43am - Obviously. _

Tyki chuckled to himself before digging in his own meal.

The conversation the others were having were relatively quiet. Tyki found it quite amusing that Allen didn't bother to try and join in. He just looked out the window with the most bored expression on his face. _He probably doesn't even know what they're talking about. _"You know, you don't have to discuss paying the bill in private. Besides, we're not even finished yet." Tyki spoke, catching Allen's attention. He gave them all an odd look. "If the bill bothers you that much, I can pay for it." Tyki said, smirking at the way Allen's eye twitched. He knew it got on his nerves when Tyki offered to pay even more for him.

"...you know, Tyki, you're a really confusing guy. I thought you hated us..." Lavi said slowly.

"People change, Lavi." Tyki replied and Lavi deadpanned before looking over at Allen quizzically. Allen glared right back at him. Lavi sniffed and look away. Tyki watched the two curiously. _Are they still fighting? What was that talk last night about? _He wondered, sipping his drink as he stared between Lavi and Allen curiously. Lenalee seemed to know what was going on by the exasperated look on her face. _Maybe I should ask her about that later..._they were all broken out of their awkward silence when the waitress came back.

"Are you all done?" She asked, looking moreover at Tyki. Tyki shook his head and she paused. "Did you guys want anything else?" They all looked between each other at the question. They _could _get more...but that means they'd have to rely on Tyki to pay for it all. Lenalee was worried if he didn't have enough, Lavi didn't really want him to pay for his food, Kanda didn't really give a shit (_let the goddamned idiot pay, _he thought), Daisya thought it was quite handy and Allen...well Allen would rather someone else pay even if Tyki was rich...was that bad? Now the _waitress _was starting to feel awkward just standing there.

"Yo, Claire! You gonna take their bill or what?!" A painstakingly familiar voice shouted.

"Oh god, someone hide me..." Allen said and hid behind Lenalee. Lenalee and the others gave him an odd look.

That was when _Fou _came marching over.

"Oh. It's _you _guys." She scowled.

"Nice to see you too." Daisya muttered. Fou glowered at him.

"Are you guys going to pay or...wait...hold up, do I spot a short stack over there?" Fou's face brightened and she crawled into the booth behind Allen, Lenalee, and Kanda. "Indeed I do! Hey you, you didn't tell me you were going to the hospital today." She complained, pulling on a strand of his hair. Allen grumbled and detached her hand from his head.

"Maybe cause I knew you'd be there?" Allen questioned.

"Wrongo there, short stack, you enjoy my company. So what did you go for, injure your arm again?" Fou asked. Allen's eye twitched.

"You're too loud..." He muttered. She blinked a few times and looked up at the puzzled expressions of everyone at the table.

"Oh." She let a sly smirk slide on her face. "You guys don't know." Allen glared at her whilst they all gave Allen curious glances.

"Don't know about what?" Lenalee asked.

"Oh nothing, just forget I said anything! Still, the next time you come visit, you have to tell me." Fou said, patting Allen's head.

"I don't _visit _the hospital, Fou, I go there because I'm in _pain." _

"Can't be as bad as when you were twelve, right?" Fou questioned and Allen mumbled something under his breath.

"Don't you have work to do?" He grumbled.

"Yep! I'll see ya later, squirt!" She chirped and pranced away.

"_You _know Fou?" Daisya asked incredulously. Allen's eyes flickered dangerously for a brief second.

"Yes, and it seems _you _guys know her too." Allen answered. "What did you do to get her to hate you?"

"Lavi did it." Daisya and Lenalee said in unison and pointed at Lavi. Lavi raised his hands up defensively.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are you guys blaming _me? _She hates me just 'cause I asked her a question!" He tried reasoning.

"An insensitive one most likely..." Allen mumbled under his breath.

"It was not insensitive! It was curiosity!" The redhead defended.

"Whatever you say." Allen hummed and looked out the window.

"Speaking _of _curiosity," Lenalee started, "what's this about your arm that we don't know?" She asked and then frowned. Allen's lips also threatened to frown but he managed to keep a slightly blank face as his hand wavered over his left arm.

"Can we talk about this later?" He asked. "Where did the waitress go?" They all looked around.

"Maybe she ran away when Fou came over..." Lavi suggested.

"Or maybe she ran away because she didn't want to hear another one of your long boring stories..." Allen countered. Lenalee giggled at them.

"You guys are fighting like a married couple." She commented and Allen's nose scrunched with distaste.

"I'd rather marry _Kanda_ than marry _him_."Allen glowered. Kanda gave him the most funniest look, but everyone was too busy paying attention to the burn Lavi just received than Kanda's face.

"Ouch." Daisya laughed.

"Why is it that you always seem to want to tick me off?" Lavi asked.

"What? Don't tell me you're jealous that everyone would rather marry that prick than you." Allen retorted with a smirk.

"I dunno, I'd probably rather marry Lavi, Kanda is one scary motherfucker." Daisya stated. He turned to Lenalee, "what about you, Lenalee?"

"...why are we even _discussing _this topic? We need to pay for our food." Lenalee pointed out.

"Waitress!" Lavi called. "What was her name again?...Ms. Crea!" He called. They all gave him puzzled expressions.

"It was Claire." Allen corrected.

"Oh shush, I'm not good with names!" Lavi pouted.

"He really isn't..." Lenalee muttered. "He called me Rinali at first." She said quite bitterly.

"Yeah, he called me Daisha, like with a 'sh'." Daisya commented.

"Is that why you call Kanda, Yuu?" Allen asked.

"No! I can say his last name perfectly, but this is America! We call people by their first names!"

"He also called Fou, For." Daisya informed, snickering.

"For...? How the heck do you get For out of Fou?" Allen asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, and he called Lou Fa, Roufa." Lenalee said. Lavi was getting quite tired of them making fun of his inability to get names right. His memory was huge, was there just a defect box in there filled with countless names that like to change themselves inside his brain or something?

"Lou Fa? You mean that girl who had a crush on Allen?" Daisya asked. Allen blinked a few times.

"She had a crush on me?" The younger asked. Lenalee and Daisya stared at him with disbelief.

"You didn't _know?" _Lenalee asked incredulously.

"It was beyond obvious!" Daisya nearly shouted. Allen frowned at them.

"How so?"

Cue the face palms.

"Are you guys going to pay now?" The waitress asked. She felt that it'd be rude to interrupt their conversation so she sat there and waited for them to finish.

"Oh yeah!" Lavi shouted with realization.

"Do you want to split the bill or-"

"Just leave it all in one." Tyki said, cutting her off. He hadn't said a word the entire time so half of them forgot he was there...like Daisya for example, who jumped out of his seat.

"Christ, dude, you're still _there?" _He asked obnoxiously. Tyki raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've been here the entire time."

"You could've fooled me..." Daisya mumbled and sat back down.

And so, Tyki paid the bill for their food and Lavi personally thanked him for it. Tyki felt more accomplished than ever but then another thought struck him. He wasn't just being quiet for nothing at the table. He was actually thinking about Sheryl. Seeing the bandage on Allen's face reminded him that Sheryl would hold no punches when it came to Allen and he didn't want to see Allen get hurt. Sheryl wasn't always this way with Tyki's relationships...just ones where he would date a guy instead of a girl...yet he seemed to be perfectly fine with his daughter dating girls, so why wasn't he fine with him dating guys? Still, that wasn't what Tyki had been thinking about. If he continued to date Allen, then Sheryl would continue to try and hurt him or threaten him out of the relationship and Tyki didn't want to see one of his boyfriends break up with him again because he was _scared _to be with him.

As they were all walking back to the van, Tyki confronted Allen. "Hey, Allen, can I talk to you real quick?" He asked quietly. Allen nodded his head and told Lenalee that he'd be there in a second. Lavi frowned at them before looking over at Lenalee. Yeah, he and Allen were in some sort of messed up fight with emotions right now, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried for him...Lenalee nodded towards him and followed them. She made sure to keep herself out of sight so they didn't notice her eavesdropping. "Allen...I don't think we can...do this."

Lenalee's eyes widened.

"Do what?" Allen asked with a frown.

"You know..." Tyki gestured to the two of them and Allen narrowed his eyes at him. "...us?" Allen's eyes widened.

"What happened? Did Sheryl say something to you? You don't...you didn't..." Lenalee could tell Allen was panicking.

"Sheryl didn't say anything, Allen, it's what he's doing to _you _that I don't like." Tyki said, frowning. Lenalee's eyes were glued to the scene.

"I don't care what he does." Allen grumbled.

"Well, I do; and he's only doing this because we're together." Tyki sighed and looked away. Lenalee's eye bulged. _How did he manage to hide _that _behind our backs?! _

"...but Tyki..." Allen's voice faded out. He didn't want to break up with Tyki...he really didn't...was Sheryl hitting him really that much of a deal? Tyki cupped Allen's cheek and graced his thumb over the bandage on Allen's mouth.

"I don't want him to hurt you." Tyki stated. Allen shook his head and grabbed the front of Tyki's shirt and pressing his lips against his. Lenalee's jaw dropped and Tyki also looked quite taken aback.

"I already told you: I don't care what Sheryl does to me. So don't...don't leave..." Allen's grasp was faltering and he laid his head against Tyki's chest. Said man sighed and hugged Allen, kissing the top of his head.

"Trust me, Allen, I don't want to, but Sheryl won't hesitate to hurt you. He knows he can't hit a minor and he just lost his temper last time. This time he'll find someone to beat you up for him that is also a minor. I know Sheryl." Tyki mumbled, closing his eyes and sighing into Allen's white locks.

"I told you I don't care. It's not like he'll kill me." Allen said, smiling into Tyki's shirt.

"But, Allen, he'll-"

"Don't care." Allen interrupted. Tyki frowned and opened his eyes.

"But I do..."

"Then all I have to do is avoid him, right?" Allen questioned. Tyki shook his head.

"It's not that easy, Allen, he has connections." Tyki mumbled.

"And I don't have friends."

There was a pause between them before they started laughing.

"You gotta remember, Tyki, I just now came back. The only people I actually know are Cross, Bak, Fou, Daisya, Kanda, Lenalee, Lavi, and you. If I keep my distance from everyone else, I'm sure I'll be fine." Allen said, retreating from the awkward hug to smile at him. Tyki frowned back.

"But then you won't have anyone else."

"I don't _need _anyone else." Allen said.

"But what if Lavi throws a party and invited you to one?"

"Okay, I don't think you've noticed this, but Lavi and I aren't exactly on good terms right now so I highly doubt I'd even be going out shopping with him or something let alone go to one of his parties." Allen paused. "I don't even _like _parties. It smells too much like alcohol and drugs." Allen replied, scrunching his nose. Tyki rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Well you don't have to drink the alcohol and do the drugs. You can just bring your own snacks and drink, you know, just in case something gets spiked." Allen stared at his boyfriend for awhile.

"Are you saying you _want _me to go? Even though one of Sheryl's connections might be there?" Allen asked cautiously.

"I want you to have _fun. _As long as Kanda and Lavi are there, I'm sure they won't let you get hurt." Tyki replied.

"...why not Daisya?" Allen asked curiously. Tyki frowned in response.

"I don't know about him...he hallucinates or something when he's drunk. I'd rather much trust Lenalee because she doesn't get drunk...and her kicks hurt." Tyki informed. Lenalee felt a bit prideful of herself at Tyki's statement.

"I have a feeling that you know all of that because of experience..." Allen mumbled. Tyki simply smiled at him. "...I should probably go..." _Before they send someone over here..._Allen thought.

"Just be careful, okay?" Tyki asked and brought him in for another hug. Allen rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." He said dismissively. Allen tried getting out of Tyki's arms but Tyki held him close. "Um...Tyki...I thought we agreed that I needed to leave?" Allen said questionably.

"I have a question for you." Tyki explained.

"...um...okay? What is it?" Allen questioned.

"...do you still have feelings for Lavi?" He asked quietly. Lenalee could still hear him though. She saw Allen shift uncomfortably.

"What's up with the random question?" Allen grumbled.

"...I know you guys are in a fight right now or something like that, but I guess you could say I'm just curious." Tyki said.

"Um...okay...well..." Allen sighed and slumped against Tyki. "Honestly, I don't really know now..." Lenalee strained her ears as much as she could even though it was not needed. She could hear them perfectly fine, but she wanted to make sure that she was _actually _hearing this. "...back when I lived in England...I had actually dated someone else..." Allen started. Tyki's eyebrows rose.

"Oh? You broke up with him then?" Tyki asked and Allen narrowed his eyes and looked up at Tyki with a frown.

"Why did you automatically assume that it was a guy?" Tyki opened his mouth to reply but closed it and thought about Allen's question.

"I don't know, you just come off as gay to me." He joked, causing Allen's jaw to drop. Lenalee had to restrain herself from giggling.

"I am _not _gay!" He denied.

"...was it a guy?"

"Well, yeah, but...stop laughing!" Allen blushed, playfully hitting Tyki's chest.

"Sorry, sorry, continue." Tyki chuckled.

"Anyways...while I was in England, I went to a public school-oh, I'm homeschooled by the way-anyways, while I was there...I was actually...um..." Allen trailed off.

"You were...?" Tyki asked invitingly.

"I was...bullied." Allen replied, his expression becoming somber. "...the person I ended up dating...well, he was the only one who ever stood up for me. We became friends of course, and because of him, people had actually stopped bullying me...he showed everyone that I wasn't really freakish or whatever...so one day he asked me out and I really liked him, so I said yes...but..."

"How does this relate to my question?" Tyki interrupted.

"I'm getting there!" Allen argued. "Like I was saying, it was going really well, but..." Allen sighed and laid his head on Tyki's chest. "I was still thinking about Lavi." Tyki was silent and Lenalee gaped. "I was really stupid..._I _was the one who broke up with Lavi, but I couldn't stop thinking about him...I don't know why...I just...ugh...anyways, a few months before I left England, I admitted to the guy that I had gotten over him...which I have...kinda..." Allen mumbled that last part. "And the guy asked me out again, but I said no because...I was coming back here."

"So you still have feelings for that other guy _too?" _Tyki asked, now extremely confused.

"No! We're only friends, gah, I feel like I just made everything all the more complicated!" He huffed.

"You did." Tyki stated. "I'm going to take all that as a yes."

"But-"

"I don't mind, Allen. Everyone still has feelings for the people they've dated in the past, no matter how much of an asshole they were." Tyki said.

"But I don't-"

"Allen. You should go."

"But..."

"Go before someone comes over here. I'll see you later, okay?" Tyki asked. Allen hugged again and Lenalee sprinted away before Allen could see her. He and Tyki shared one last kiss before Allen waved him off and walked to the van. He stared at the van for a long time before getting in. _This thing _still _gives me the creeps. _

"That took awhile." Lavi stated.

"Well I apologize for inconveniencing you, I could've walked home if I knew you were that impatient." Allen grumbled back. He crossed his arms and pursed his lips as Lavi started the van. "Where did you even _get _this thing? What if people were killed in it? Or even worse...raped..." Allen whispered that last word. Everyone in the van was completely silent until Daisya started laughing so hard he fell out of the passenger seat.

"Oh my god, dude, you can never leave I swear!" Daisya laugh. "I think I love this kid!"

"I'm serious!" Allen countered, frowning. Lenalee started giggling alongside Daisya. Lavi grumbled and backed out of the parking spot he was in before driving off. "Whatever, don't answer my question I wasn't interested anyways! It's not like I could be sitting in a spot where a kid had their head chopped off!"Allen muttered, shuddering. Lenalee laughed before patting Allen's shoulder.

"Oh relax, Allen, he bought it from my brother." Lenalee answered.

"That makes it scarier. What if he killed all the guys who tried admiring you in here..." Allen mumbled.

The scary part was that everyone was starting to believe that was true.

"Allen, please stop, you're scaring me." Daisya said.

"At least you're sitting in the passenger's seat! I bet no one was killed up there!" Allen countered.

"But I could be sitting in the place of Komui's partner in crime." Daisya whispered.

"GUYS PLEASE!" Lavi snapped. "I'm fucking _driving, _I could be in the place of the guy that _murdered _those kids!"

The van went silence.

Daisya, Allen, and Lenalee all started laughing. Kanda let out a simple snort and rested his back against the back of Daisya chair. "You guys are idiots." He said.

"Of course _you're _okay with sitting in a van that had children murdered in it." Kanda opened one of his eyes to look at Allen.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" He asked in a challenging tone.

"New topic! We need to discuss where we're performing next!" Lenalee suddenly interrupted.

"Hm...good question...what about a bar?" Daisya suggested. Lenalee shook her head.

"I don't think we'd be able to get in." She countered. Daisya frowned at her.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Allen." Lavi and Lenalee said together. Allen felt his lips tug downward.

"What about me?" He asked.

"You're too innocent for this! Not to mention they'd never let you in because you look twelve." Lavi added. Allen's eyes narrowed.

"Oh really? I bet I can get _all _of you in a bar without even trying." Allen replied, crossing his arms. Lavi pressed on the gas at a stoplight and looked back at Allen curiously.

"Is that a bet?" Lavi asked, smirking.

"Is it?" Allen answered with his own question.

"It is. Okay, so if you can manage to get us in a bar to play...I'll..." Lavi hummed.

"Have to take Allen on a date everyday for a week." Lenalee cut in. Both Lavi and Allen's eyes widened.

"What?!" They shouted in unison. Lenalee smirked.

"What's the matter, Lavi? It's not like you're gonna lose anyways. If you _do _lose, then you'll have to buy him lunch everyday, I'm sure Allen's okay with that, right Allen?" Lenalee asked, grinning. Allen hummed.

"Do I have to hold back?" Allen asked. Lenalee grinned evilly and Lavi paled.

"Nope."

"I'm fine with that then."

"But wait, I thought there was a rule of 'no dating' in here!" Lavi said quickly. Lenalee shook her head at him.

"No, it's 'no relationships' and besides, Allen's already got a boyfriend, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Lavi mumbled. It was like a light bulb went off above his head. "Wait, you never told me who it was!"

"Like hell I'd tell you." Allen growled. Lavi pouted. "GREEN, GREEN, GREEN!" Allen pointed at the traffic light and Lavi stepped on the gas.

"Shit."

"And what if Allen loses?" Daisya asked.

"Good question." Lavi hummed.

"Then he'll have to break up with his boyfriend." Allen paled at Lenalee's offer.

"You can't do that! He has nothing to do with this!" Allen snapped, crossing his arms.

"Hm...Allen, you don't go out in public a lot, right?" Daisya asked, a smirk slowly forming on his face.

"I do." Allen lied. Daisya frowned.

"Damn."

"What was your idea, Daisya?" Lenalee asked.

"That Allen has to wear a dress everyday for a week." Daisya replied. "I don't think any guy would want to be put through that."

"Okay, for one, I don't even _own _any dresses-" Allen started.

"You could just wear Lenalee's." Daisya interrupted.

"I doubt she wants me to wear her dresses." Allen replied.

"I don't mind~" She sang.

"Whatever, I'm not gonna lose this anyways."

"What makes you think you're gonna win? Who'd listen to a teenager?" Lavi asked.

"You're a teenager too, idiot." Allen growled.

"Not really. I'm considered an adult now that I'm eighteen." Lavi chirped.

"But you have to be twenty-one to get into a bar, Lavi..." Lenalee reminded. Allen blinked a few times.

"You do?"

"Everyone knows that, beansprout." Lavi drawled. Allen frowned at him.

"It's not my fault rules in America are different from England's." He humphed. Lavi parked into the driveway and turned around to face Allen.

"Wait, how old do you have to be to get into a bar where you used live?" He asked.

"Well, sixteen if you had a parent with you. You could get in at eighteen without a parent though." Lavi gawked at Allen.

"Hey guys, we should move to England." Lavi said slowly. Lenalee and Kanda both rolled their eyes.

"I agree." Daisya chirped. "I turn sixteen next year."

"Really?" Allen asked, a bit surprised.

"Yup, April 5th! Say...when's your birthday?" Daisya asked.

"December." Allen answered. Daisya's face fell.

"You're older than I am!" He complained.

"Apparently." Allen replied.

"What day?" Lavi asked curiously.

"I'm not telling you." Allen said blankly.

"Why nooot?" Lavi whined.

"Because you should already know that." Allen said and opened the door to get out of the van.

"Why should _I _know that?" Lavi groaned.

"Because you used to date him, duh." Lenalee remarked.

"Oh yeah, that happened, didn't it?" Lavi questioned, feigning innocence. "Oh yeah, then what's my birthday!?" Lavi called.

"August 10th." Allen called back. Lavi's face fell like Daisya's did earlier. "How did he know that?!" Lavi asked accusingly. They all shrugged at his question. Allen walked in Lavi's garage and sat down on the couch, waiting for the others as he took out a can of Pepsi. Lavi and the others walked in a little later.

"That's not fair." Lavi whined and sat next to Allen on the couch. Allen made it quite visible that he didn't want to sit next to Lavi by scooting away.

"What's not fair?" The younger teen asked.

"I don't know _your _birthday!" Lavi argued.

"You don't _need _to know my birthday." Allen said.

"Yes I do! I know _everyone's _birthday!" Lavi whined.

"As do I." Allen replied. "Your point?"

"But...but...oh yeah, tell me them then!"

"I thought you already knew them."

"I do! But I need your proof!" Lavi reasoned.

"The only one I didn't know was Daisya's, but I know that now because he just told me. Kanda's is June 6th, Lenalee's is May 11th, Daisya's is April 5th, and I believe Komui's is June 13th." Allen listed.

"How did you even...how...okay that is definitely not fair! Cause _no one _knows your birthday!" Lavi argued.

"Plenty of people know what my birthday is. Just not you guys." Allen replied.

"Oh yeah, then who?"

"Narain, Neah, Cross, Fou, Bak, my current boyfriend..." Allen listed off his fingers. "That makes six."

"Well it could make ten if you tell us." Lavi persuaded. Allen looked at him funny.

"Come on, Allen, I wanna know your birthday too!" Lenalee said cheerfully and sat down on the other side of him.

"Why? It's not like I celebrate it." Allen muttered. Lavi let out a dramatic gasp.

"You don't celebrate your birthday?! Nonsense! So much nonsense!"

Allen resisted the urge to smack the redhead.

Kanda and Daisya also sat back to chat until practice started. Lenalee gave Lavi a warning look. "Maybe there's a _reason _he doesn't celebrate his birthday, Lavi."

"Oh...why don't you?"

"December 25th." Allen said suddenly.

"Huh?" Lavi replied intelligently.

"That's my birthday." Allen informed. Lavi felt the note in his pocket burn against his leg.

"..._oh."_

"Your birthday is on Christmas?" Lenalee asked. "So then do you celebrate..." She trailed off when she noticed that Lavi had quieted down. "Did I miss something here?" She asked.

"...you asked about my arm, earlier...I almost forgot..." Allen mumbled. "You guys remember what happened back when I left, right?" Allen looked up at them. Everyone except Lavi looked confused. Allen's eyebrow twitched and he sighed. "You didn't tell them, did you, Lavi?"

"...not really..."

"Tell us _what?" _Lenalee asked accusingly.

"The day before I left to England to study abroad, my house caught on fire..." Allen informed. "I...received a really bad injury...to my arm...that's what Fou was talking about." He paused for a moment. "That's also how I got my scar here too." Allen said, tapping his forehead. "It wasn't as bad as what happened to my arm though."

"...can we see it?" Lenalee asked. Allen nodded and slowly rolled up his sleeve. All of their eyes widened at the arm. It just looked so..._painful..._

"I got it when part of the house fell on me." Allen informed and rolled his sleeve back down a bit quickly. "I don't really...like showing it to people..." He mumbled, averting his gaze from their wide-eyed stares. "Actually, since then, it was paralyzed for awhile, which is why I can write with my right hand too. I had to write with my right hand until my left regained movement. Now I don't really know which hand I write with more, I never really notice."

Lenalee was hesitant with her next question.

"...what happened to Mana?"


End file.
